{■ 


.1 


Zbe  lEngltsb  SSible 


A  SKETCH  OF  ITS  HISTORY 


BY  THE 

REV.  GEORGE  MILUGAN,  B.D. 

CAPUTH 


BS455 
.M4,5 


NfiW  YORK 

ANSON  D.  F.  RANDOLPH  &  COMPANY 

London  :  adam  and  charles  black 


LIBRARY  OF  THE  THEOLOGICAL  SEMINARY 

PRINCETON,     N.    J. 
PRESENTED  BY 

DR.    F.L.    PATTON 


^    -- 


THE    ENGLISH    BIBLE 


tRARY 


HE  ENGLISH  BIBLE 


A  SKETCH   OF  ITS  HISTORY 


Rev.  GEORGE  MILLIGAN,  B.D. 

CAPUTH 


NEW  YORK 
ANSON  D.   F.  RANDOLPH  &  COMPANY 

i  (  LONDON  :  ADAM  AND  CHARLES  BLACK 


EDITORIAL  NOTE 

Encouraged  by  the  favour  with  which  our  series 
of  books  has  been  received  not  only  by  those  for 
whom  they  were  in  the  first  instance  intended,  but 
also  by  the  general  public  in  Great  Britain  and 
America,  and  in  the  British  Colonies,  the  Editors  re- 
quested Mr.  Milligan  to  prepare  the  present  volume 
on  a  subject  of  abiding  interest  and  instruction. 
He  has  spared  no  pains  to  be  both  accurate  and 
readable  ;  and  we  think  he  has  succeeded  very 
well.  Inheriting  the  tastes  of  his  lamented  father, 
he  has  long  been  familiar  with  the  subject ;  and 
we  commend  his  work  as  a  compendious  narrative 
of  the  growth  of  the  English  version  of  the  Scrip- 
tures which  has  done  so  much  to  mould  the  speech 
and  form  the  character  of  the  Anglo-Saxon  race. 

A.  H.  Charteris. 
J.  A.  M'Clymont. 

.  August  1895. 


AUTHOR'S  PREFACE 


Previous  text-books  in  this  series  have  supplied 
introductions  to  the  Old  and  New  Testaments 
respectively,  dealing  with  such  questions  as  the 
writers  and  the  contents  of  the  various  books. 
The  following  pages  are  an  attempt  to  tell  the 
story  of  our  own  Eiiglish  version^  and  to  indicate 
the  many  ages  and  workers  that  have  had  a  share 
in  perfecting  it  as  a  translation  of  the  sacred  text. 
Such  an  inquiry  is  naturally  connected  with  much 
in  the  general  history  of  our  country  and  of  its 
language  and  literature  which,  in  the  prescribed 
limits  of  space,  it  has  been  impossible  to  notice. 
The  author  trusts,  however,  that  enough  has  been 
said  to  arouse  the  interest  of  those  to  whom  the 
subject  is  new,  and  to  stimulate  them  to  further 
researches  on  their  own  behalf  To  aid  them  in 
this  he  has  appended  a  list  of  the  books  which, 
with  others  mentioned  in  the  footnotes,  he  has 
himself  found  most  useful.  But  above  all  he 
would  recommend  the  consulting,  wherever  it  is 
at  all  practicable,  of  the  various  editions  of  the 


THE  ENGLISH  BIBLE 


Bible  itself,  as  accessible  in  the  British  Museum, 
the  Euing  collection  of  Bibles  in  the  University 
of  Glasgow,  and  other  great  libraries.  "  Nowhere 
else,"  it  has  been  truly  said,  "does  the  maxim 
'  verify  your  references  '  apply  with  greater  force." 
The  author  desires  further  to  express  his  in- 
debtedness to  the  Rev.  W.  F.  Moulton,  D.D., 
Cambridge,  for  many  acts  of  personal  kindness 
connected  with  his  work,  and  to  the  Rev.  Pro- 
fessor Cowan,  D.D.,  of  Aberdeen,  the  Rev.  A. 
Irvine  Robertson,  B.D.,  of  Clackmannan,  and 
the  Editors  of  the  series,  for  assistance  in  the 
revision  of  the  proof-sheets. 


CONTENTS 


CHAP. 

1.  The  Early  Paraphrasts 

2.  John  Wycliffe 

3.  The  Wycliffite  Versions   . 

4.  William  Tindale — His  Life 

5.  William  Tindale — His  Work 

6.  William  Tindale — His  Influence 

7.  Miles  Coverdale 

8.  Matthew's  Bible — Taverner's  Bible 

9.  The  Great  Bible 

10.  The  Genevan  Versions 

11.  The  Bishops'  Bible 

12.  The  Rheims  and  Douai  Bible 


13.  The  Authorised  Version — History  of  the 

Undertaking         ..... 

14.  The  Authorised  Version — Character    of 

the  Text       ...... 


PAGE 

I 


13 
22 

31 

42 
48 

57 
66 

n 

88 
98 


15.  The  Revised  Version 


[08 


117 
124 


"Happy,  and  thrice  happy,  hath  our  English  nation 
bene,  since  God  hath  given  learned  translators  to  expresse 
in  our  mother  tongue  the  heavenly  mysteries  of  His  Holy 
Word,  delivered  to  His  Church  in  the  Hebrew  and  Greeke 
languages  ;  who  although  they  have,  in  some  matters  of  no 
importance  unto  salvation,  as  men  bene  deceived  ;  yet  have 
they  faithfully  delivered  the  whole  substance  of  the  heavenly 
doctrine  conteyned  in  the  Holy  Scriptures,  without  any 
hereticale  translations  or  wilfuU  corruptions." 

FULKE,  Defence  of  Sincere  and  True 
Translations. 


THE   ENGLISH    BIBLE 

CHAPTER  I 

THE    EARLY    PARAPHRASTS 

I.  Anglo-Saxon  paraphrasts — Csedmon.  2.  Bede.  3. 
King  Alfred.  4.  ^^Llfric.  5.  Anglo  -  Norman  ver- 
sions— Rolle. 

/^N  the  title-page  of  our  English  Bible  there  appears 
^-^  frequently  the  following  note  :  "Translated  out  of 
the  original  tongues,  and  with  the  former  translations 
diligently  compared  and  revised  by  His  Majesty's 
special  command. "  We  shall  see  the  full  force  of  these 
words  when  we  come  to  the  history  of  our  Authorised 
Version,  but  in  the  meantime  they  may  remind  us  of  a 
fact  too  often  forgotten,  that  the  English  Bible,  as  we 
have  it  to-day,  did  not  spring  into  existence  all  at  once. 
It  is  the  result  of  a  long  and  continuous  growth,  and  to 
those  who  know  its  history  bears  traces  of  the  many 
ages  and  the  many  hands  which  have  combined  in 
producing  it.  To  sketch  that  history  in  what  at  best 
must  be  imperfect  outline  is  the  aim  of  this  text-book. 

In  commencing  to  do  so  the  first  thing  that  strikes 
us  is  a  feeling  of  wonder  that,  long  though  the  history 
of  the  English  Bible  has  been,  it  has  not  been  still 
longer.  For  it  is  a  remarkable  fact  that  Christianity 
and  Christian  ordinances  had  been  introduced  into  our 
island  for  many  hundreds  of  years  before  the  people 
possessed  the  sacred  Scriptures  in  a  language  which 
they  could  understand.     To  all  but  the  priests,  and  the 


THE  ENGLISH  BIBLE 


V 


few  learned  men  of  those  days,  the  Vulgate,  or  Latin  ver- 
sion of  the  Bible,  was  necessarily  a  sealed  book  ;  and  not 
till  nearly  the  close  of  the  fourteenth  century  do  we  find 
any  deliberate  attempt  to  give  a  complete  translation  of 
it  in  English.  Previous  to  this,  however,  various  attempts 
had  been  made  by  means  of  metrical  versions  or 
paraphrases  in  Anglo-Saxon  and  Anglo-Norman  to 
diffuse  the  knowledge  of  parts  at  least  of  the  sacred 
writings  ;  and  it  may  be  well  now  to  recall  briefly  the 
most  important  of  these  as  paving  the  way  for  future 
translations. 

§  I.  Anglo-SaxonParaphrasts— Cadmon.— The 

first  of  the  Anglo-Saxon  paraphrasts  regarding  whom 
we  have  any  reliable  information  is  Caedmon.  Ac- 
cording to  the  old  historian  Bede,  about  the  year  680 
this  Credmon,  a  poor  Saxon  cowherd,  returned  one  night 
sad  and  dispirited  to  the  abbey  at  Whitby,  because  he 
had  been  unable  to  take  his  part  in  singing  at  a  banquet. 
But,  as  soon  alter  he  fell  asleep,  there  appeared  to  him  a 
visitant  who  saluting  him  said  :  ' '  Caedmon,  sing  some  song 
to  me."  "  I  cannot  sing,"  was  the  surprised  answer, 
"for  that  was  the  reason  why  I  left  the  entertainment." 
"Nevertheless,"  replied  the  other,  "you  shall  sing." 
"  What  shall  I  sing?  "  he  asked.  "  Sing  the  beginning 
of  created  beings,"  was  the  rejoinder.  And  thereupon 
Ccedmon  began  to  sing  well-ordered  verses  to  the  praise 
of  God.  In  the  morning  he  was  conducted  into  the 
presence  of  the  Abbess  Hilda,  to  whom  he  repeated  the 
verses  ;  and  no  sooner  had  he  done  so  than  all  who 
heard  acknowledged  that  "heavenly  grace"  had  been 
conferred  on  him.  And  the  Abbess  commanded  that  he 
should  be  taught  the  whole  course  of  sacred  history, 
which  he  "converted  into  most  harmonious  verse;  and 
sweetly  repeating  the  same,  made  his  masters  in  their 
turn  his  hearers." 

The  paraphrases  which  Csedmon  thus  made  comprised 
large  portions  of  Old  Testament  history,  and  the 
main  facts  in  the  life  of  our  Lord  and  the  preaching  of 
the   Apostles,    "besides   many   more   about   the   Divine 


THE  EARLY  PARAPHRASTS 


benefits  and  judgments,  by  which  he  endeavoured  to 
turn  away  all  men  from  the  love  of  vice,  and  to  excite 
in  them  the  love  of,  and  application  to,  good  actions." 
The  following  lines  from  the  runic  inscription  on  the 
Ruthwell  Cross  in  Dumfriesshire,  which  has  been  identi- 
fied as  a  quotation  from  Ctedmon,  may  illustrate  the 
nature  of  his  work.  The  Cross  of  Christ  is  supposed  to 
be  telling  its  own  story  : — 

Beneath  Him  I  quivered, 

But  bow  me  I  durst  not, 

The  Rich  King  upheaving 

They  pierced  Him  with  nails  : 

On  me  see  the  deep  scars, 

The  bruises  so  shameful. 

I  bore  it  all  silent. 
§  2.  Bede. — Other  Anglo-Saxon  versions  of  portions 
of  Scripture  followed.  Thus  in  the  eighth  centuiy  the 
Psalter  was  translated  by  Eadhelm,  Bishop  of  Sher- 
borne, and  by  Guthlac,  a'Tiermit  of  Crowland  near 
Peterborough,  ana~Th'e  Gospels  by  Egbert,  Bishop  of 
Holy  Island  ;  but  more  important  thaiT'any  of  these  was 
the  work  of  the  Venerable  Bede  (d.  735),  the  most 
famous  scholar  of"  his"  "diy  "in  Western  Europe.  He 
himself  has  told  us  that  he  translated  the  Apostles'  Creed 
and  the  Lord's  Prayer  into  Anglo-Saxon  for  the  use  of 
the  less  educated  priests  ;  while  the  last  work  on  which 
he  was  engaged  was  a  translation  of  the  Gospel  of  St. 
John.  Of  the  completion  of  this  work  his  disciple 
Cuthbert  has  given  so  striking  an  account  that, 
though  well  known,  it  may  in  part  be  repeated.  The 
Tuesday  before  Ascension  Day  Bede,  though  suffering 
greatly,  had  spent  in  dictating,  now  and  then  among 
other  things  saying  :  "  Go  on  quickly,  I  know  not  how 
long  I  shall  hold  out,  and  whether  my  Maker  will  not 
soon  take  me  away."  On  the  following  day  his  weak- 
ness increased,  but  he  was  able  to  take  a  touching 
farewell  of  all  his  fellows,  and  passed  the  day  joyfully 
till  the  evening.  Then  the  boy  who  was  acting  as  his 
scribe  said  :   "  Dear  master,   there   is  yet   one  sentence 


THE  ENGLISH  BIBLE 


not  written."  "  Write  quickly,"  answered  Bede.  And 
when  soon  after  the  boy  said  :  "  The  sentence  is  now 
written,"  he  replied,  "  It  is  well ;  you  have  said  the 
truth.  It  is  ended."  Shortly  after,  sitting  on  the 
pavement  of  his  cell,  and  singing  "Glory  be  to  the 
Father,  and  to  the  Son,  and  to  the  Holy  Ghost,"  he 
"departed  to  the  heavenly  kingdom."  Of  the  trans- 
lation thus  touchingly  finished  no  remains  have  come 
down  to  us  ;  but  among  the  treasures  of  the  Bodleian 
Library  at  Oxford  may  still  be  seen  the  old  Graeco-Latin 
MS.  of  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles  which  Bede  is  known 
to  have  used. 

§  3-  King  Alfred. — A  royal  translator  comes  next, 
Alfrecf  ^e"Crfeat7  and  the  spirit  that  prompted  his 
efforts  is  well  indicated  in  his  own  words  :  "I  thought 
how  I  saw  .  .  .  how  the  churches  were  filled  with  treasures 
of  books,  and  also  with  a  great  multitude  of  God's 
servants ;  yet  they  reaped  very  little  fruit  of  these 
books,  because  they  could  understand  nothing  of  them, 
as  they  were  not  written  in  their  own  native  tongue." 
To  supply  this  want  the  good  king  translated  many 
notable  Latin  treatises,  and  gave  further  proof  of  his 
religious  zeal  by  prefixing  to  his  "Book  of  Laws"  a 
translation  of  the  Ten  Commandments  under  the  heading 
"Alfred's  Dooms."  The  following  translation  of  these 
"  Dooms"  will  still  be  read  with  interest : — 

The  Lord  spake  these  words  to  Moses,  and  thus  said : 
I  am  the  Lord   thy  God.      I  led  thee  out  of  the 
land  of  the  Egyptians  and  of  their  bondage. 

1.  Love  thou  not  other  strange  gods  above  me. 

2.  Utter  thou  not  my  name  idly,  for  thou  shalt  not 
be  guiltless  towards  me,  if  thou  utter  my  name  idly. 

3.  Remember  that  thou  hallow  the  rest-day.  Work 
for  yourselves  six  days,  and  on  the  seventh  rest. 
For  in  six  days  Christ  wrought  the  heavens  and  the 
earth,  the  seas,  and  all  creatures  that  are  in  them,  and 
rested  on  the  seventh  day  :  and  therefore  the  Lord 
hallowed  it. 


THE  EARLY  PARAPHRASTS 


4.  Honour  thy  father  and  thy  mother,  whom  the 
Lord  hath  given  thee,  that  thou  mayest  be  the  longer 
hving  on  earth. 

5.  Slay  thou  not. 

6.  Commit  thou  not  adulteiy. 

7.  Steal  thou  not. 

8.  Say  thou  not  false-witness. 

9.  Covet  thou  not  thy  neighbour's  goods  unjustly. 
10.   Make  thou  not  to  thyself  golden  or  silver  gods. 

Alfred  was  further  engaged,  we  are  told,  on  a  version 
of  the  Psalms  at  the  time  of  his  death,  and  his  patriotic 
wish  is  often  quoted  that  "all  the  first-born  youth  of 
his  kingdom  should  employ  themselves  on  nothing  till 
they  were  able  to  read  well  the  English  Scriptures."  ^ 

§  4.  .^Ifric. — Other  versions  deserving  of  special 
notice  are  the  "  Book  of  Durham,"  or  Gospels  of  St. 
Cuthbert,  and  the  "  Rushworth  GIOSS,"  interlinear 
Latin  and  Anglo-Saxon  translations  of  the  four  Gospels, 
and  the  Heptateuch  of  .ffilfric  (about  1040  a.D.)  a  free 
rendering  of  the  five  books  of  Moses,  Joshua,  Judges, 
and  certain  other  Old  Testament  books.  ^Ifric's  object 
in  translating  is  clearly  expressed  in  his  homily  On 
Reading  the  Scriptures:  "Whoever  would  be  one  with 
God,  must  often  pray,  and  often  read  the  Holy  Scrip- 
tures. For  when  we  pray,  we  speak  to  God  ;  and  when 
we  read  the  Bible,  God  speaks  to  us.  .  .  .  Happy  is  he, 
then,  who  reads  the  Scriptures,  if  he  convert  the  words 
into  actions.  The  whole  of  the  Scriptures  are  written 
for  our  salvation,  and  by  them  we  obtain  the  knowledge 
of  the  truth." 

§  5.  Anglo-Norman  Versions— RoUe. — The  work 

of  Bible  translation  naturally  received  a  check  during 
the  confusion  accompanying  the  Danish  and  Norman 
invasions.  The  check  was  however  only  temporaiy, 
and  there  are  still  extant  MSS.  in  Anglo-Norman,  or 
Middle-English  as  it  is  sometimes  called,  containing 
metrical  paraphrases  of  considerable  portions  of  Scrip- 

1  Some  scholars  however  assert  that  the  words  in  the  original  do 
not  mean  more  than  "English  writing." 


THE  ENGLISH  BIBLE 


ture,  amongst  which  the  most  noteworthy  are  the 
Onuuluni,  a  metrical  paraphrase  on  the  Gospels  and 
Acts  by  one  Orm  (about  1150  a.d.),  and  the  Sowlehele 
or  Salus  Animae  (about  1250  A.D.),  which  along  with 
other  religious  poetry  contains  a  paraphrase  in  verse  of 
the  leading  facts  of  the  Old  and  New  Testaments. 
Apart  from  their  other  associations  these  MSS.  are 
interesting  as  showing  the  change  gradually  passing  over 
our  language.  Already  we  can  see  the  rude  but  unmis- 
takable beginnings  of  our  modern  English,  and  the 
version  of  the  Psalter  executed  by  Richard  Roller,  the 
hermit  of  Hampole,  who  died  in  1349,  can  still  be  read 
with  comparative  ease.  Here,  for  example,  is  Rolle's 
version  of  our  Psalm  xxiii.  We  print  it  exactly  as  he 
wrote  it. 

Psalm  xxii.  (xxiii.),  Rolle's  Version 

Lord  gouerns    me  and   nathynge   sail  me  want :  in 

sted  of  pasture  thare  he  me  sett. 
On  the  watere  of  rehetynge  ^  forth  he  me  broght  :  my 

saule  he  turnyd. 
He   led  me    on  the  stretis  of  rightwisnes :    for  his 

name. 
fFor  whi,  if  i.  had  gane  in  myddis  of  the  shadow  of 

ded  :  i.  sail  noght  dred  illes,  for  thou  ert  with  me. 
Thi  wand  and  thi  staf  :  thai  haf  confortyd  me. 
Thou  has  grayid^  in  my  syght  the  bord:  agayns  thaim 

that  angirs  me. 
Thou    fattid    my    heued    in    oyle  :    and    my   chalice 

drunkynand  what  it  is  bright. 
And  thi  mercy  sail   folow   me  :  all  the  dayes  of  my 

lif. 
And  that  i.   won  ^  in   the   hows   of  lord  :    in  lenght 

of  dayes. 

Rolle's  version  is  further  noteworthy  as  almost,  if  not 
quite,  the  first  attempt  at  a  literal  prose  translation. 
His  method  he  has  himself  described  :   "  In  this  work  I 

1  Refreshing.  2  Prepared.  3  Dwell. 


THE  EARLY  PARAPHRASTS 


seek  no  strange  English  but  easiest  and  commonest  and 
such  that  is  most  like  to  the  Latin.  ...  In  the  transla- 
tion I  follow  the  letter  as  much  as  I  may,  and  where  I 
find  no  proper  English  I  follow  the  wit  of  the  words, 
so  that  those  that  shall  read  it  need  not  dread  erring. 
In  expounding  I  follow  holy  Doctors,  and  reason  : 
reproving  sin."  Praiseworthy  as  Rolle's  aim  was,  he  s 
was  only  able  to  fulfil  it  with  reference  to  a  small  por-  ^ 
tion  of  Scripture,  while  it  must  be  kept  clearly  in  view  ' 
that  in  what  he  did  accomplish,  he  along  with  his  prede- 
cessors was  thinking  of  the  convenience  of  the  clergy 
rather  than  of  the  needs  of  the  common  people. 
The  very  idea  of  a  people's  Bible  does  not  seem  yet  to 
have  occurred  to  any  one.  It  is  the  more  striking  that 
within  forty  years  from  this  time  the  whole  Bible  was 
actually  translated  into  English  with  the  express  design 
of  its  becoming  the  common  property  of  the  nation.  The 
man  to  whom  this  was  due,  and  who  in  consequence 
ranks  as  the   first  of  our  Bible  translators,  was  John 

Wycliffe. 


THE  ENGLISH  BIBLE 


CHAPTER    II 

JOHN    WYCLIFFE 

I.  Wy cliff e's  early  years.  2.  Embassy  to  Bruges.  3. 
Wycliffe's  times.  4.  Work  of  translation.  5.  Attacks 
upon  Wycliffe.      6.  His  death. 

§  I.  Wycliffe's  early  Years.— John  Wycliffe i  was 

born  about  the  year  1320  in  the  vicinity  of  Richmond  in 
Yorkshire.  Of  his  early  years  very  little  is  known,  but 
after  the  year  1356  we  find  him  filling  various  important 
offices  at  the  University  of  Oxford.  In  1361  he  was 
appointed  by  his  college  to  the  rectory  of  Fylingham 
in  Lincolnshire,  and  a  few  years  later  exchanged  this 
for  Ludgershall  in  Buckinghamshire.  He  did  not  how- 
ever abandon  his  connection  with  Oxford,  but  continued 
to  deliver  lectures  on  Philosophy  and  Logic,  and  later 
on  Theology,  distinguished  by  a  learning  and  a  zeal 
which  led  to  his  being  known  amongst  his  con- 
temporaries by  the  prophetic  title  of  "the  Evangelical 
Doctor."  It  was  indeed  to  his  intimate  knowledge  of 
the  Scriptures  that  Wycliffe  owed  even  then  his  scholastic 
fame,  though  there  is  no  evidence  that  up  to  this  time 
he  had  ever  thought  of  what  was  to  be  the  crowning  glory 
of  his  life — his  translation  of  them  into  English.  Nor  as 
yet  had  he  any  open  quarrel  with  Rome  ;  for  the  state- 
ment, frequently  found  in  histories  of  the  Bible,  that  so 
early  as  1360  he  had  come  forward  with  attacks  upon 
the  monastic  system,  is  wholly  without  foundation. ^ 

1  The  name  is  spelt  in  nearly  thirty  different  ways. 

2  Cf.  Lechler,  John   Wycliffe  and  his  English  Precursors,  p.  120 
(i  vol.  edition  by  Lorimer). 


JOHN   WYCLIFFE 


§  2.  Embassy  to  Bruges.— When  however  the 
opportunity  for  action  came,  Wycliffe  was  not  found 
wanting.  In  1365  Pope  Urban  V.  had  renewed  his 
claim  upon  England  for  the  payment  of  a  thousand  marks, 
as  the  feudatory  tribute  which  had  been  exacted  from 
King  John  in  1213,  but  which  had  fallen  into  arrear  for 
a  period  of  thirty-three  years.  This  claim  King  Edward 
III.  and  his  Parliament  unanimously  refused  to  concede, 
and  amongst  other  publications  of  the  time  supporting 
their  action  was  a  tract  by  Wycliffe,  setting  forth  the 
rights  of  Parliament  on  this  question.  The  part  he  thus 
took  in  a  controversy  of  such  national  importance,  as 
well  as  the  position  which  he  occupied  as  one  of  the 
King's  chaplains,  led  to  Edward's  selecting  "our  be- 
loved and  faithful  master  John  de  Wiclif "  as  one  of  the 
royal  commissioners  sent  to  Bruges  in  1374  to  treat  with 
the  Papal  Nuncio  regarding  the  reservation  of  benefices. 
The  question  was  at  the  time  a  burning  one  in  England. 
During  a  period,  dating  back  again  to  King  John,  the 
Popes  of  Rome  had  claimed  the  right  to  traffic  in  English 
benefices  ;  and  the  consequence  was  that  many  important 
livings  had  been  gifted  to  strangers  and  absentees,  whose 
sole  interest  in  them  consisted  in  drawing  the  revenues, 
as  if  "  God  had  given  His  sheep  not  to  be  pastured,  but 
to  be  shaven  and  shorn." 

The  Conference  ended,  as  conferences  frequently  do, 
in  a  compromise  ;  but  upon  W'ycliffe's  mind  the  pro- 
ceedings produced  an  effect  which  has  been  often  com- 
pared with  the  effect  in  later  days  upon  Luther  of  his 
visit  to  Rome,  and  which  certainly  proved  itself  to  be 
attended  with  far-reaching  consequences.  Hitherto  his 
opposition  to  Rome  had  been  conducted  principally,  if 
not  wholly,  on  national  and  patriotic  grounds  ;  but  from 
this  time  he  comes  before  us  rather  in  the  light  of  an 
ecclesiastical  reformer — "the  Morning  Star  of  the  Re- 
formation." 

§  3-  Wycliffe's  Times. — The  need  of  reform,  it  is 
certain,  must  have  been  daily  pressing  itself  on  Wycliffe's 
mind.      The  age  in  which  he  lived  was  a  very  dark  age. 


THE  ENGLISH  BIBLE 


General  social  distress  existed  not  only  at  home,  but 
throughout  the  Continent ;  while  in  England  the  Black 
Death,  or  Pestilence,  swept  repeatedly  over  the  country, 
carrying  off  on  its  first  outbreak  no  less  than  half  the 
population.  Meanwhile  the  church  was  corrupt,  the 
clergy  ignorant,  and  the  people  neglected  ;  and  to  crown 
all,  in  1378  came  the  scandal  of  the  Great  Schism,  two 
rival  Popes  at  Rome  and  at  Avignon  anathematising  one 
another.  And  yet  out  of  all  this  evil  good  was  to  come. 
'*  The  unsettledness  of  the  period,"  says  Dr.  Eadie,  "  with 
its  bitter  strifes,  the  rooted  enmity  of  class  against  class, 
the  hardheartedness  of  statesmen,  and  the  ambitious 
factions  of  Churchmen  with  their  worldliness  and  intrigues, 
impressed  Wyclifife  with  the  indelible  conviction  that  all 
ranks  needed  to  know  and  study  the  Divine  Word  in  the 
tongue  intelligible  to  them."i  Many  quotations  from 
Wycliffe's  own  writings  might  be  brought  forward  to 
substantiate  this  ;  but  a  single  sentence  from  his  preface 
to  an  English  translation  of  a  Latin  Harmony  of  the 
Gospels  must  suffice  :  "  Christian  men  ought  much  to 
travail  night  and  day  about  text  of  Holy  Writ,  and 
namely  [especially]  the  Gospel  in  their  mother  tongue, 
since  Jesus  Christ,  very  God  and  very  man,  taught  this 
Gospel  with  His  own  blessed  mouth  and  kept  it  in  His 
life." 

§  4-  Work  of  Translation. — Wycliffe  began  accord- 
ingly with  a  translation  of  the  Apocalypse,  in  whose 
mingled  denunciation  of  sin  and  comfort  in  suffering  he 
must  have  seen  so  fitting  a  message  for  his  own  time. 
The  Gospels  with  a  commentary  came  next,  that  "with 
God's  grace  poor  Christian  men  may  some  deal  [partly] 
know  the  text  of  the  Gospel  .  .  .  and  therein  know 
the  meek  and  pure  and  charitable  living  of  Christ  and 
His  Apostles,  to  sue  [follow]  them  in  virtues  and  bliss." 
Other  books  followed,  until  probably  in  1380  the  whole 
New  Testament  was  completed.  To  this  was  shortly 
added  a  translation  of  the  Old  Testament,  principally  by 
one  of  his  friends,  Nicolas  de  Hereford,  so  that  by  the 
1  The  English  Bible,  vol.  i.  pp.  55-6. 


JOHN   WYCLIFFE 


middle  of  the  year  1382  Wyclifife  had  the  joy  of  seeing 
the  whole  Scriptures  in  the  hands  of  the  people  "in 
their  mother  tongue." 

§  5.  Attacks  upon  Wycliffe.— All  this,  it  must 

be  remembered,  was  not  accomplished  without  difficulty 
and  even  danger.  Hereford  was  cited  before  the  Synod 
in  London  in  1382,  and  had  afterwards  to  leave  the 
country ;  ^  while  Wyclifife's  own  life  was  one  long 
sti-uggle  against  the  attacks  of  Rome.  Foxe  has  pre- 
served a  lively  account  of  a  meeting  of  Convocation  in 
1377  from  which  he  only  escaped  through  the  inter- 
vention of  the  Duke  of  Lancaster ;  while  a  second 
attempt  against  him  at  Lambeth  about  a  year  later  was 
frustrated  by  the  intervention  of  the  widowed  Princess  of 
Wales.  How  bitter  indeed  was  the  hostility  with  which 
he  was  regarded  is  proved  by  a  well-known  incident — one 
of  the  few  glimpses  we  have  into  the  personal  life 
of  the  reformer.  In  1379  while  discharging  his  annual 
duty  at  Oxford  as  a  divinity  Professor  he  was  seized  with 
an  alarming  illness.  Four  friars,  believing  that  his  end 
was  near,  contrived  to  get  admission  into  his  sickroom, 
and  called  upon  him  as  a  dying  man  to  retract  all  that 
he  had  said  against  their  order.  But  Wycliffe  was  not 
to  be  daunted.  With  the  aid  of  his  servant  he  raised 
himself  on  his  pillow,  and  with  all  the  strength  he 
could  command  exclaimed  :  "  I  shall  not  die,  but  live  to 
declare  the  evil  deeds  of  the  friars."  And  confused  and 
confounded  the  friars  left  the  room. 

A  year  or  two  later  the  determined  hostility  of  the 
Church  was  proved  by  the  public  condemnation  of 
Wycliffe's  teaching  at  a  synod  held  at  the  Dominican 
Monastery  in  Blackfriars,  London,  when  however  the 
reformer  himself  was  not  present.  A  terrible  earthquake 
which  occurred  during  the  sittings  of  the  Synod,  and 
threatened  at  one  time  to  break  them  up,  was  ingeni- 

1  An  interesting  proof  of  this  is  aflforded  by  what  is  believed  to  be 
the  original  MS.  of  his  work  preserved  in  the  Bodleian  Library 
at  Oxford,  and  which  breaks  off  suddenly  after  the  second  word  of 
Baruch  iii.  20 


THE  ENGLISH  BIBLE 


ously  turned  by  the  President,  Archbishop  Courtenay,  into 
a  good  rather  than  an  evil  omen,  as  presaging  the 
purging  of  the  kingdom  by  the  condemnation  of  heresy, 
though  not  without  trouble  and  great  agitation. 
"  Pontius  Pilate  and  Herod  are  made  friends  to-day," 
was  Wyclifife's  own  bitter  comment  on  the  union  against 
him  between  the  prelates  and  the  monastic  orders  long 
at  deadly  feud;  "since  they  have  made  a  heretic  of 
Christ,  it  is  an  easy  inference  for  them  to  count  simple 
Christians  heretics." 

§  6.  His  Death. — Contrary  however  to  his  own  ex- 
pectations, Wycliffe  was  allowed  to  die  in  peace. 
Retiring  to  his  quiet  rectory  of  Lutterworth,  to  which 
he  had  been  presented  by  the  king  in  the  year  of  the 
Bruges  Conference,  he  pursued  his  accustomed  work  of 
teaching  and  preaching.  The  end  came  very  suddenly. 
On  28th  December  1384,  he  was  suddenly  struck  with 
paralysis  while  hearing  mass,  and  passed  quietly  away  on 
the  last  day  of  the  year.  "Admirable,"  says  the  old 
Church  historian  Fuller,  ' '  that  a  hare  so  often  hunted 
with  so  many  packs  of  dogs  should  die  at  last  quietly 
sitting  on  his  form." 

After  his  death  a  petition  was  presented  to  the  Pope 
that  Wyclifife's  bones  should  be  disinterred  from  their 
resting-place  in  Lutterworth  Churchyard  ;  but  the  Pope 
to  his  credit  took  no  action,  and  it  was  left  to  the 
Council  of  Constance  thirty  years  later  (4th  May  141 5) 
to  pronounce  Wycliffe  "  the  leader  of  heresy  in  that  age," 
and  to  order  his  books  to  be  burned  and  his  remains 
removed  from  consecrated  ground.  Not  till  1428  how- 
ever was  the  order  carried  out,  when  the  remains  having 
been  burned  to  ashes  were  cast  into  the  Swift  that  passes 
by  Lutterworth  on  its  way  to  the  Avon.  Thus  "this 
brook  hath  conveyed  his  ashes  into  Avon,  Avon  into 
Severn,  Severn  into  the  narrow  seas,  they  into  the 
main  ocean.  And  thus  the  ashes  of  Wicliffe  are  the 
emblem  of  his  doctrine,  which  now  is  dispersed  all  the 
world  over." 


THE   WYCLIFFITE    VERSIONS  13 


CHAPTER    III 

THE    WYCLIFFITE    VERSIONS 

I.  Wycliffe.  the  first  English  translator  of  the  Bible.  2. 
Purvey' s  revision.  3.  Relation  of  the  Wycliffite  ver- 
sions. 4.  Dependence  on  the  Vulgate.  5.  Comments 
and  notes.  6.  Homely  diction.  7.  Reception  of  the 
versions. 

§  I.  Wycliffe  the  first  English  translator  of  the 

Bible.— In  the  preceding  chapter  we  saw  how  Wycliffe 
succeeded  in  giving  to  the  English  people  the  whole 
Bible  in  their  native  tongue.  We  have  now  to  turn  to 
some  particulars  regarding  his  translation  and  the  work 
of  his  immediate  followers  ;  and  the  question  at  once 
meets  us,  Was  Wycliffe  actually  the  first  to  translate 
the  Bible  into  English?  The  contrary  is  sometimes 
stated.  Sir  Thomas  More,  writing  about  1530,  asserts 
that  "the  whole  Bible  was  long  before  his  (Wycliffe's) 
days  by  virtuous  and  well-learned  men  translated  into  the 
English  tongue,"  and  adds  that  he  himself  had  seen 
"  Bibles  fair  and  old  written  in  English"  ;  but  it  must 
be  kept  in  view  that  at  the  time  More  was  writing  to  de- 
preciate as  far  as  possible  Wycliffe's  and  Tindale's  work, 
and  that  in  all  probability  the  copies  which  he  claims  to 
have  seen  were  actually  the  work  of  Wycliffe  or  his 
followers.  While  again,  the  assertion  of  King  James's 
translators  in  their  Preface  that  "much  about  that  time, 
even  in  our  King  Richard  the  Second's  days,  John 
Trevisa  translated  them  (the  Scriptures)  into  English," 
seems  to  rest  on  a  veiy  slender  foundation.  Until, 
then,  clearer  evidence  to  the  contrary  is  forthcoming,  to 


14  THE  ENGLISH  BIBLE 

Wycliffe's  translation  must  be  awarded  the  honour  of  being 
at  the  time  "not  only  the  one  translation  of  the  whole 
of  the  Scriptures  into  English  which  had  ever  been  made, 
but  actually  by  a  hundred  years  the  first  translation  into 
a  European  language.  "^  Nor  is  it  out  of  place  to  remark 
here  that  Wycliffe  may  in  consequence  be  regarded  as 
the  father  of  our  later  English  prose.  As  a  hundred 
and  fifty  years  later  Luther's  German  version  of  the  Bible 
gave  a  fresh  impetus  to  all  German  literature,  so  to  the 
clear,  homely  English  of  Wycliffe's  Bible  and  tracts  may 
be  traced  the  beginning  of  that  native  prose  literature  of 
which  we  are  justly  so  proud. 

§  2.  Purvey's  Revision. — Nor  can  we  doubt,  to 

pass  to  a  second  point,  that,  like  Luther  again,  Wycliffe 
spent  much  of  his  leisure  after  his  retirement  in  revising 
and  correcting  his  version.  Death  carried  him  off,  how- 
ever, in  the  midst  of  his  labours,  and  it  was  left  to  his 
friend  and  assistant,  John  Purvey,  to  complete  this  re- 
vision. It  was  issued  in  the  year  1388,  with  a  long  and 
most  interesting  Prologue.  "A  simple  creature, "so Purvey 
writes,  "hath  translated  the  Bible  out  of  Latin  into  English. 
.  .  .  First,  this  simple  creature  had  much  travail,  with 
divers  fellows  and  helpers,  to  gather  many  old  Bibles, 
and  other  doctors,  and  common  glosses,  and  to  make  one 
Latin  Bible  some  deal  [partly]  true.  .  .  .  And  I  pray,  for 
charity  and  for  common  profit  of  Christian  souls,  that  if 
any  wise  man  find  any  default  of  the  truth  of  translation, 
let  him  set  in  the  true  sentence  and  opening  of  Holy 
Writ,  but  look  that  he  examine  truly  his  Latin  Bible.  .  .  . 
Lord  God  !  since  at  the  beginning  of  faith  so  many  men 
translated  into  Latin,  and  to  great  profit  of  Latin  men, 
let  one  simple  creature  of  God  translate  into  English,  for 
profit  of  English  men.  .  .  .  Therefore  a  translator 
hath  great  need  to  study  well  the  sentence,  both  before 
and  after,  and  look  that  such  equivalent  words  accord 
with  the  sentence,  and  he  hath  need  to  live  a  clean  life, 
and  be  full  devout  in  prayers,  and  have  not  his  wit 
occupied  about  worldly  things,  that  the  Holy  Spirit, 
1  Burrows,  Wicli_fs  Place  in  History,  p.  20. 


THE   WYCLIFFITE    VERSIONS  15 

author  of  wisdom,  and  knowledge,  and  truth,  direct 
him  in  his  work,  and  suffer  him  not  to  err.  ...  By 
this  manner,  with  good  living  and  great  travail,  men 
may  come  to  true  and  clear  translating,  and  true  under- 
standing of  Holy  Writ,  seem  it  never  so  hard  at  the 
beginning.  God  grant  to  us  all  grace  to  know  well,  and 
keep  well  Holy  Writ,  and  suffer  joyfully  some  pain  for 
it  at  the  last  !     Amen." 

§  3-  Relation  of  the  Wycliffite  Versions.— 

Apart  from  its  personal  interest  this  Prologue  has  proved 
of  great  assistance  to  scholars  in  enabling  them  to  dis- 
tinguish between  what  we  may  call  the  eaj-lier  version, 
Wycliffe's  own  version,  and  the  later,  the  revision  by 
Purvey.  Both  these  versions  were  anonymous.  The  M 
peril  of  Bible-translation  at  that  period  was  too  great  to 
admit  of  translators  putting  their  names  to  their  work, 
and  in  consequence  there  was  for  long  much  confusion 
between  the  two  versions,  and  in  several  well-known 
works,  such  as  Bagster's  Hexapla,  the  later  revision  is 
actually  printed  as  Wycliffe's  own.  But  a  careful  com- 
parison of  this  Prologue  with  Purvey's  other  writings, 
and  an  examination  of  the  later  translation  on  the 
principles  there  laid  down,  prove  beyond  a  doubt  that  he 
was  the  author  of  it,  while  the  "  English  Bible  late 
translated  "  to  which  he  makes  reference  can  only  be 
Wycliffe's  version  of  1382.  It  would  be  interesting,  if 
our  space  permitted,  to  print  parallel  extracts  from  the 
two  versions  as  showing  the  nature  of  the  changes  which 
Purvey  introduced  ;  but  in  the  meantime  we  must 
content  ourselves  with  simply  giving  a  short  extract  from 
each,  printing  it  exactly  as  it  was  first  written.  Here  is 
how  in  the  earlier  version  Wycliffe  rendered  the  Lord's 
Prayer  : — 

Matt.  vi.  9-13  (Wycliffe,  1382) 

Oure  fader  that  art  in  heuenes,  halwid  be  thi 
name  ;  thi  kyngdom  cumme  to  ;  be  thi  wille  don  as 
in  heuen  and  in  erthe  ;  5if  to  vs  this  day  oure  breed 
ouer  other  substance  ;  and  for5eue  to  vs  oure  dettis. 


i6  THE  ENGLISH  BIBLE 

as  we  for5eue  to  oure  dettours  ;  and  leede  vs  not  in 
to  temptacioun,  but  delyuere  vs  fro  yuel.     Amen. 

From  Purvey  we  may  take  a  few  verses  from  Philip- 
pians  ii  : — 

Phil.  ii.  5-1 1  (Purvey,  1388) 

And  fele  5e  this  thing  in  50U,  which  also  in  Crist 
Jhesu  ;  that  whanne  he  was  in  the  forme  of  God, 
demyde  not  raueyn,i  that  hym  silf  were  euene  to  God  ; 
but  he  lowide  hym  silf,  takinge  the  forme  of  a  seruaunt, 
and  was  maad  in  to  the  licknesse  of  men,  and  in 
abite  ^  was  foundun  as  a  man.  He  mekide  ^  hym  silf, 
and  was  maad  obedient  to  the  deth,  5he,  to  the  deth 
of  the  cross.  For  which  thing  God  enhaunside*  hym, 
and  5af  to  hym  a  name  that  is  aboue  al  name  ;  that  in 
the  name  of  Jhesu  ech  kne  be  bowid,  of  heuenli  thingis, 
of  ertheli  thingis,  and  of  hellis ;  and  eche  tunge 
knouleche,  that  the  Lord  Jhesu  Crist  is  in  the  glorie 
of  God  the  fadir. 

In  neither  case,  it  will  be  observed,  is  there  any 
division  into  verses,  but  in  the  originals  reference  was 
facilitated  by  means  of  letters  of  the  alphabet  inserted  at 
intervals  in  the  margin. 

§  4.  Dependence  on  the  Vulgate.— It  would 

lie  altogether  beyond  our  present  aim  to  attempt  any- 
thing like  a  critical  examination  of  the  two  Wycliffite 
versions ;  but  one  great,  though  unavoidable,  defect 
which  distinguished  them  may  be  noted.  Both  were 
translations  of  a  translation.  Neither  Wycliffe  nor 
Purvey  translated  directly  from  the  original  Hebrew  and 
Greek  texts,  but  based  their  work  on  the  Vulgate  or 
Latin  Bible  then  in  general  use,  or  rather,  as  Purvey 
tells  us,  on  a  Latin  text  made  as  accurate  as  possible  by 
a  comparison  of  "  many  old  Bibles,"  but  still  only  "  some 
deal  [partly]  true."  All  the  errors  therefore  into  which 
the  Latin  text  had  fallen  are  here  reproduced ;  and 
further,   the   translators'   anxiety  to   keep  as  closely  as 

^  Rapine.  2  Habit.  3  Humbled.  4  Exalted. 


THE  WYCLIFFITE    VERSIONS  17 

possible  to  the  text  before  them  makes  many  of  their 
renderings  unintelligible  in  English.  On  the  other  hand, 
this  dependence  on  the  Vulgate  had  some  compensating 
advantages.  For  one  thing  it  enabled  the  new  English 
version  to  be  recognised  as  the  same  as  the  "common 
Bible,"  acknowledged  by  the  whole  Western  Church  ; 
while  in  not  a  few  instances,  more  particularly  in  the  New 
Testament,  the  Vulgate  is  actually  nearer  the  original 
text  than  many  of  the  late  Greek  MSS.  which  subsequent 
translators  used.i  In  the  Lord's  Prayer,  for  example,  as 
given  above,  Wycliffe  rightly  omits  the  doxology  at  the 
end,  which,  as  our  R.V.  shows,  has  no  place  in  the 
best  texts  ;  while  in  the  shortened  version  of  the  same 
prayer  in  Luke  xi.  2-4  he  is  again  in  agreement  with 
the  R.V.  in  omitting  the  third  and  seventh  petitions, 
"Thy  will  be  done  as  in  heaven,  so  in  earth,"  and 
"Deliver  us  from  evil."  In  Phil.  ii.  10  also  it  is 
interesting  to  find  Purvey  anticipating  the  correct  render- 
ing, "  in  the  name  of  Jhesu." 

§  5.  Comments  and  Notes, — A  noticeable  feature 
of  Purvey's  revision  is  the  introduction  of  short  comments 
in  the  margin,  many  of  them  taken  from  the  writings  of 
a  certain  Lire  or  Nicolas  de  Lyra,  a  famous  scholar  of 
the  fourteenth  centuiy.  One  or  two  examples  must 
suffice  : — 

Psalm  XV.  (xvi.)  "  f  A.  glos.  This  salm  is  maad  of 
Dauid,  to  the  preysing  of  the  meke  and  symple  Crist. 
A.  et  alU:' 

Psalm  xcix.  (c.)  "f  A.  glos.  This  salm  was 
maad  to  be  songen  in  the  offring  of  pesible  sacri- 
fices, that  was  offrid  to  God  for  sum  benefice  to  be 
geten  of  him,  to  wiche  the  plesing  of  God  is  requyred 
bifore,  ether  for  benefice  now  geten,  to  wich  the  doing 
of  thanking  is  oweth  to  seve.     Lire  here.     K. " 

Rom.  iv.  14,  '■'■  Of  the  lawe,  that  is,  of  the  werkis 
oflawe.      Lire  here." 

Rom.    X.    12    ("iVi?    distinction    of  Jew   and   of 

1  Moulton,  The  History  of  the  English  Bible,  p.  29. 


1 8  THE  ENGLISH  BIBLE 

Greek'''') — "As  to  rigtfulnesse,  which  is  by  the  feith 
of  Crist.     Lyre  here" 

Rom.  xi.  2,  "  Knew ;  that  is,  bifore  ordeynede 
bi  grace  to  blis.      Lyre  here.'''' 

2  Cor.  V.  21  '-'■  {Siny — "That  is,  sacrifice  for 
synne.     Aiistyn.^' 

Purvey  also  follows  Wycliffe's  example  by  incor- 
porating in  his  text  occasional  explanatory  notes,  care- 
fully distinguished  from  the  text  by  different  orthography 
as — 

Matt.  xiv.  I,  "In  that  tyme  Eroude  tetrarke, 
pry  nee  of  the  fourthe  party 

Matt.  xxii.  23,  "No  risyng  a5en  to  lijfy 
I  Cor.  xvi.   I,  "But  of  the  gaderyngis  of  ?7ioneyy 
Gal.   ii.    10,  "  Oneli  that  we  hadde  mynde  of  pore 
men  of  Crist.'''' 

It  cannot  be  pretended  that  notes  such  as  these  do 
much  for  the  elucidation  of  the  sacred  text,  but  they  at 
least  do  no  harm.  There  is  nothing  polemical  or  con- 
troversial about  them,  and  in  this  they  differ  happily 
from  what  we  shall  find  in  some  other  versions.  Both 
Wycliffe  and  his  successor  realised  that  Scripture  should 
in  the  first  instance  be  allowed  to  speak  for  itself, 
without  any  of  that  "docking  and  clipping"  of 
which  the  former  was  wont  to  accuse  the  friars. 
"The  Sacred  Scriptures,"  these  are  his  own  words, 
"  are  the  property  of  the  people,  and  one  which  no  party 
should  be  allowed  to  wrest  from  them."  And  in  his 
treatise.  The  Wicket, — referring  to  the  opposition  which 
his  translation  had  aroused, — he  writes  :  "They  say  it  is 
heresy  to  speak  of  the  Holy  Scripture  in  English,  and  so 
they  would  condemn  the  Holy  Ghost,  who  gave  it  in 
tongues  to  the  Apostles  of  Christ  to  speak  the  Word  of 
God  in  all  languages  that  were  ordained  of  God  under 
heaven.  .  .  .  Why,  then,  should  it  be  taken  away  from 
us   in  this  land,  that  are  Christian  men  ?  " 

§  6.  Homely  Diction. — In  accordance  with  these 
noble  words  is  the  homely  diction  which  characterises 


THE  WYCLIFFITE   VERSIONS  19 

both  versions.  Writing  expressly  for  the  people^  the 
translators  used  every  effort  to  make  their  meaning  clear 
and  intelligible,  and  in  consequence  many  of  their  render- 
ings impress  us  still  with  their  freshness  and  force. 
Take  these  examples  selected  almost  at  random  from 
Purvey's  revision  of  St.  Matthew  :  "  The  lanterne  of  thi 
bodi  is  thin  i3e"  (vi.  22) ;  "A  leche  ^  is  not  nedeful  to 
men  that  faren  wel,  but  to  men  that  ben  yuel  at  ese  " 
(ix.  12)  ;  "And  lo  !  a  man  that  hadde  a  drye  hoond  " 
(xii.  10);  **Lo!  my  child,  whom  Y  haue  chosun,  my 
derHng"  (xii.  18) ;  "  And  the  boot  in  the  myddel  of  the 
see  was  schoggid  with  wawis "  (xiv.  24).  Or  these, 
some  of  whose  expressions  have  an  unexpectedly  familiar 
sound  to  Scotch  ears:  "  Twey  men  metten  hym,  that 
hadden  deuelis,  and  camen  out  of  graues,  ful  woode  ^  " 
(viii.  28) ;  "  And  loo !  in  a  greet  bire-^  al  the  droue  wente 
heedlyng  in  to  the  see"  (viii.  32);  "And  he  cometh, 
and  fyndith  it  voide,  and  clensid  with  besyms,**  and  maad 
faire"  (xii.  44);  "But  thei  dispisiden,  and  wenten 
forth,  oon  in  to  his  toun,^  anothir  to  his  marchaundise  " 
(xxii.  5). 

Other  renderings  suggested  by  the  peculiar  customs 
of  the  time  are  no  longer  so  appropriate,  as:  "And 
Jhesus  stood  bifor  the  domesman,^  and  the  iustice  axide 
him,  and  seide,  Art  thou  King  of  Jewis?"  or  "  Thanne 
kny5tis  of  the  iustice  token  Jhesu  in  the  moot  halle,''  and 
gadriden  to  hym  al  the  cumpeny  of  kny5tis "  (Matt, 
xxvii.  II,  27)  ;  while  naturally  many  of  the  words  occur- 
ring in  both  versions  are  now  quite  obsolete.^  A  slight 
change  of  spelling  gives  the  version  as  a  whole,  however, 
a  wonderfully  modern  aspect,  and  it  has  been  stated  that 
when  a  few  years  ago  the  experiment  was  tried  of  reading 

1  Physician.  2  Mad.  3  Rush.  4  Brooms. 

5  Farm.  6  Judge.  7  Hall  of  Assembly. 

8  Thus  in  the  1382  edition  we  find  "cultre"  for  "knife"  (Prov. 
xxiii.  2);  "walker"  as  an  explanation  of  "fuller"  (Mark  ix.  3) ;  or 
in  the  1388  edition  "alie"  for  "father-in-law"  (Exod.  xviii.  5); 
"  catchepoUis  "  for  "serjeants"  (Actsxvi.  35).  Cf.  too  "vertu"  used 
in  the  unfamiliar  sense  of  "strength,"  in  "  the  vertu  of  synne  is  the 
lawe  "  (i  Cor.  xv.  56). 


THE  ENGLISH  BIBLE 


Wyclifife's  translation  aloud  in  Yorkshire,  the  author's 
native  county,  hardly  a  word  or  expression  seemed 
peculiar. 

§  7.  Reception  of  the  Versions.— The  immediate 

reception  of  the  new  versions,  and  more  particularly  of 
Purvey's  revision,  was  striking.  "  Copies  passed  into  the 
hands  of  all  classes  of  the  people.  Even  the  Sovereign 
himself  and  the  princes  of  the  blood  royal  did  not  dis- 
dain to  possess  them."  ^  To  the  Papal  party  this  could 
not  but  be  very  displeasing.  One  old  chronicler  goes 
the  length  of  complaining  that  "in  this  way  the  Gospel 
pearl  is  cast  abroad,  and  trodden  under  foot  of  swine  "  ; 
and  in  1391  a  Bill  was  introduced  into  Parliament  to 
forbid  the  circulation  of  the  English  Scriptures.  It  was 
rejected  however  through  the  influence  of  the  Duke  of 
Lancaster,  who  answered  "right  sharply,  we  will  not 
be  the  refuse  of  all  other  nations  ;  for  since  they  have 
God's  law,  which  is  the  law  of  our  belief,  in  their  own 
language,  we  will  have  ours  in  English  whoever  say  nay," 
What  however  the  Church  could  not  persuade  the  State 
to  do  she  did  for  herself,  and  in  i4o8_a  Convocation 
sitting  at  Oxford  passed  a  resolution  prohibiting  the 
translation  of  any  part  of  the  Holy  Scriptures  into  English 
by  any  unauthorised  person,  or  the  reading  of  any 
translation,  made  either  in  Wycliffe's  time  or  since, 
until  it  be  first  formally  approved.  In  the  beginning  of 
the  next  year  this  decree,  generally  known  as  Arundel^ 
Statute,  from  the  man  who  mainly  prompted  it,  was 
confirmed  at  St.  Paul's.  But  in  spite  of  it  the 
circulation  and  reading  of  the  Scriptures  went  steadily 
on.  Copies,  notwithstanding  their  cost,  were  eagerly 
sought  for  by  all  classes  of  people ;  and  the  happy 
possessors  of  Bible-knowledge  became  in  their  turn  the 
eager  disseminators  of  it  amongst  others.     Many  touching 

1  Forshall  and  Madden,  The  Wycliffite  Vers£ons,Pre{a.ce,  p.  xxxii. 
In  further  proof  of  this  statement  the  editors  mention  that  in  the 
preparation  of  their  work  they  were  able  to  examine  "  nearly  150 
MSS.,  containing  the  whole  or  parts  of  Purvey's  Bible,  the  majority 
of  which  were  written  within  the  space  of  forty  years  from  its  being 
finished." 


THE   WYCLIFFITE   VERSIONS 


instances  are  given  by  Dr.  Eadie.  Thus  one  Alice  Colins 
was  commonly  sent  for  to  meetings,  "to  recite  unto 
them  the  Ten  Commandments  and  the  Epistles  of  Peter 
and  James  "  ;  and  in  1429  Marjery  Backster  was  indicted 
because  she  asked  her  maid  Joan  to  "  come  and  hear  her 
husband  read  the  law  of  Christ,  out  of  a  book  he  was 
wont  to  read  by  night."  Copies  of  the  Wycliffite 
versions  seem  even  to  have  penetrated  into  vScotland  ; 
for  in  telling  of  the  burning  of  John  Resby  as  an  heretic 
in  1408,  the  Abbot  of  Inchcolm  laments  that  the  books 
of  Wycliffe  were  possessed  by  several  Lollards  in  Scotland, 
and  kept  with  "  devlish  "  secrecy  ;  and  towards  the  close 
of  the  same  century  we  hear  of  one  Campbell  of  Cessnock 
who  had  a  priest  at  home  "  who  read  the  Bible  to  them 
in  their  vernacular," 

When  we  hear  of  incidents  such  as  these  we  can 
understand  that  it  was  no  fancy  picture  that  Foxe  drew 
when,  speaking  of  the  beginning  of  the  sixteenth  century, 
he  could  write  :  "  Certainly  the  fervent  zeal  of  those 
Christian  days  seemed  much  superior  to  these  our  days 
and  times,  as  may  appear  by  their  sitting  up  all  night  in 
reading  and  hearing,  also  by  the  expenses  and  charges 
they  incurred  in  buying  books  in  English,  some  of  whom 
gave  five  marks  [equal  to  about  £/^o  in  our  money], 
some  more,  some  less,  for  a  book  ;  some  gave  a  load  of 
hay  for  a  few  chapters  of  St.  James,  or  of  St.  Paul  in 
English.  ...  To  see  their  labours,  their  earnest  seeking, 
their  burning  zeals,  their  readings,  their  watchings,  their 
sweet  assemblies  .  .  .  may  make  us  now  in  these  our 
days  of  free  profession,  to  blush  for  shame."  ^ 

1  Acts  and  Momtvients,  bk.  vii.  p.  419  (ed.  Seymour). 


THE  ENGLISH  BIBLE 


;    CHAPTER    IV 

WILLIAM    TINDALE — HIS    LIFE 

I.  A  century  of  preparation.  2.  Tindale's  early  days  at 
Little  Sodbury.  3.  Visit  to  London.  4.  Exile. 
5.  First  printed  English  New  Testaments.  6.  Their 
reception  in  England.  7.  Further  work  of  translation. 
8.  Tindale's  last  days  and  death, 

§  I.  A  Century  of  Preparation. — A  period  of  a 

hundred  years  intervenes  between  John  Wycliffe  and  our 
next  great  Bible-translator ;  but  during  it  two  things 
happened,  both  of  which  had  an  important  bearing  upon 
the  future  history  of  the  Bible  in  England. 

The  first  of  these  was  the  discovery  of  printing. 

Up  to  this  time  the  multiplication  of  copies  of  the  Holy 
Scriptures  had  been  by  the  slow  and  laborious  process  of 
copying  ;  but  about  the  middle  of  the  fifteenth  century, 
Fust,  a  goldsmith  of  Mainz,  perfecting  Gutenberg's 
experiments,  issued  from  the  press  the  first  printed  Latin 
Bible,  generally  known  as  the  Mazarin  Bible,  from  a 
copy  found  in  the  library  of  Cardinal  Mazarin.  It  is 
believed  indeed  to  have  been  the  earliest  book  printed 
from  movable  type,  and  hence  Hallam  can  speak  of 
"this  venerable  and  splendid  volume  leading  up  the 
crowded  myriads  of  its  followers,  and  imploring,  as  it 
were,  a  blessing  on  the  new  art,  by  dedicating  its  first- 
fruits  to  the  service  of  Heaven."  ^     The  discovery  soon 

1  Introd.  to  Lit.  of  Etirope,  vol.  i.  p.  157.  In  our  own  country 
the  first  printed  book  in  which  any  portion  of  the  Scriptures  appeared 
was  The  Golden  Lege?id,  a  large  collection  of  Romish  legends  from 
Latin  and   French  originals,   but   with   which  the  translator  and 


WILLIAM  TINDALE—HIS  LIFE  23 

spread,  and  of  the  Latin  Bible  alone  ninety-one  editions 
had  been  issued  before  the  close  of  the  century. 

The  other  point  was  the  revival  of  learning. 

"  Greece,"  in  the  striking  language  of  an  English  scholar, 
"had  risen  from  the  grave  with  the  New  Testament 
in  her  hand,"  and  though  England  did  not  at  first 
welcome  the  "new  learning,"  towards  the  close  of  the 
fifteenth  century  a  noble  band  of  scholars  had  congregated 
at  Oxford,  including  such  men  as  William  Latimer, 
Thomas  More,  and  John  Colet.  To  these  in  1497  came 
to  be  added  no  less  a  person  than  the  great  Erasmus. 

Twelve  years  later  Erasmus  accepted  a  professorship 
of  divinity  at  Cambridge,  where,  in  addition  to  his  other 
work,  he  diligently  prosecuted  those  studies  which  in 
1 5 16  resulted  in  his  issuing  at  Basle  the  first  Greek  New 
Testament.  The  importance  of  this  book,  especially  in 
its  later  and  amended  editions,  in  the  history  of  Bible- 
translation  can  hardly  be  over-estimated.  Instead  of 
being  dependent  any  longer  on  a  Latin  translation,  x^ 
scholars  had  now  before  them  in  an  accessible  and 
wonderfully  correct  form  the  original  Greek  text ;  while 
as  aids  to  its  study  various  grammars  and  lexicons 
had  begun  to  appear. 

Nor  meanwhile  was  the  Old  Testament  forgotten. 
The  entire  Hebrew  Bible  was  first  printed  at  Soncino,  ^ 
near  Cremona,  in  1488;  and  in  1520  there  appeared 
the  great  Complutensian  Polyglot,  which  contained 
not  only  the  original  texts  of  Scripture,  but  Greek  and 
Hebrew  grammars,  and  a  Hebrew  vocabulary.  Never 
before  had  such  facilities  been  offered  for  an  accurate 
rendering  of  the  Bible  into  the  English  tongue,  and  it 
falls  to  us  now  to  sketch  the  life  of  the  man  who  was  to 
accomplish  this,  and  "to  whom  it  has  been  allowed 
more  than  to  any  other  man  to  give  its  characteristic 
shape  to  our  English  Bible."  ^ 

§  2.  Tindale's  early  days  at  Little  Sodbury. 

printer,  William  Caxton,  incorporated  many  Bible  stories.  The 
first  edition  appeared  in  1483. 

1  Westcott,  History  0/ the  English  Bible  (2nd  edit.),  p.  24. 


24  THE  ENGLISH  BIBLE 

— William  Tindale  ^  was  born  on  the  borders  of  Wales, 
■v^  probably  at  Slymbridge  in  Gloucestershire,  about  the 
year  1484.  More  precise  than  this  we  cannot  be  ;  while 
as  regards  his  early  years  we  have  only  the  testimony  of 
Foxe  that  he  was  "  brought  up  even  of  a  child  in  the 
University  of  Oxford,  being  always  of  most  upright 
manners  and  pure  life."  From  Oxford  he  went  to 
Cambridge,  attracted  in  all  probability  by  the  fame  of 
Erasmus's  Lectures,  and  about  the  end  of  1521  returned 
to  his  native  county  as  chaplain  and  tutor  in  the  family 
of  Sir  John  Walsh  of  Little  Sodbury.  There  he  was  in 
the  habit  of  getting  into  disputation  with  "  divers  doctors 
and  learned  men,"  who  frequented  the  house,  confirming 
his  opinions  by  "open  and  manifest  Scripture,"  until 
"  those  great  beneficed  doctors  waxed  weaiy,  and  bare  a 
secret  grudge  in  their  hearts  against  Master  Tyndale. "  ^ 
About  that  time,  too,  he  translated  into  English  a  book 
by  Erasmus  entitled  The  Manual  of  a  Christian  Soldier, 
which,  when  his  master  and  lady  had  read,  "  those  great 
prelates  were  no  more  so  often  called  to  the  house,  nor 
when  they  came  had  the  cheer  nor  countenance  as  they 
were  wont  to  have."  At  their  instigation  accordingly 
suspicions  of  heresy  began  to  be  raised  against  Tindale, 
and  he  was  summoned  to  appear  before  the  bishop's 
chancellor.  No  one  could  however  be  found  to  lay  a 
definite  charge  against  him,  and  the  case  was  dismissed. 
Shortly  afterwards,  it  is  said,  Tindale  happening  to  be  in 
the  company  of  a  learned  man,  pressed  him  so  sorely  in 
argument  that  the  learned  man  said  :  "We  were  better 
be  without  God's  law  than  the  Pope's."  "I  defy  the 
4>-  Pope  and  all  his  laws,"  exclaimed  Tindale  in  righteous 
wrath,  and  then  added:  "If  God  spare  my  life,  ere 
many  years  I  will  cause  a  boy  that  driveth  the  plough 

1  Like  Wycllffe's,  Tindale's  name  is  found  spelt  in  many  different 
ways.  For  purposes  of  safety  the  translator  also  passed  at  times 
under  the  assumed  name  of  William  Hychyns. 

2  From  Foxe's  first  account  (1563)  of  Tindale,  which  is  singularly 
graphic,  and  appears  to  have  been  supplied  to  the  martyrologist  by 
one  who  had  it  from  Tindale's  own  lips.  Both  it  and  the  later 
account  (1570)  will  be  found  in  the  valuable  Preface  to  Arber's 
Facsimile  o/the  First  Printed  New  Testament^  pp.  8-12. 


WILLIAM  TINDALE—HIS  LIFE  25 

shall  know  more  of  the  Scripture  than  thou  doest.''^ 
And  to  the  same  effect,  looking  back  on  this  period 
ten  years  later,  he  writes — and  the  words  should  be 
carefully  noted,  as  showing  how  thus  early  he  had 
clearly  set  before  him  what  was  to  be  the  work  of  his  life 
—  "A  thousand  books  had  they  (the  priests)  lever 
[rather]  to  be  put  forth  against  their  abominable  doings 
and  doctrine,  than  that  the  Scripture  should  come  to 
light.  .  .  .  Which  thing  only  moved  me  to  translate  the 
New  Testament.  Because  I  had  perceived  by  experience, 
how  that  it  was  impossible  to  establish  the  lay  people  in 
any  truth,  except  the  Scriptures  were  plainly  laid  before 
their  eyes  in  their  mother  tongue." 

§  3.  Visit  to  London. — This  was  a  task,  however, 
which  Tindale  quickly  perceived  that  he  could  not 
accomplish  at  Sodbury.  "  I  was  so  turmoiled,"  he  tells 
us,  "in  the  country  where  I  was."  And  he  bethought 
him  of  Tunstal,  Bishop  of  London,  whom  he  had  heard 
Erasmus  praise  for  his  great  learning.  He  repaired 
accordingly  to  London,  but  only  to  find  that  Tunstal  was 
not  inclined  to  do  anything  for  him.  "His  house  was 
full,  he  had  more  than  he  could  well  find  ;  and  advised 
me  to  seek  in  London,  where  he  said  I  could  not  lack  a 
service."  The  prediction  was  fulfilled,  for  Tindale, 
while  officiating  as  preacher  in  St.  Dunstan's-in-the 
West,  had  made  the  acquaintance  of  one  Humphrey 
Monmouth,  a  wealthy  cloth  merchant,  who  now  took 
him  into  his  house.  And  there  for  a  year  he  remained, 
living,  according  to  Monmouth's  testimony,  "  like  a  good 
priest  as  methought.  He  studied  most  part  of  the  day 
and  of  the  night  at  his  book  ;  and  he  would  eat  but 
sodden  meat  by  his  good  will,  nor  drink  but  small  single 
beer."  Gradually,  however,  the  conviction  forced  itself 
upon    the    solitary   worker    "not    only   that    there   was 

1  The  form  of  this  determination  may  have  been  suggested  by 
some  words  of  his  old  teacher  Erasmus  in  his  Exhortation  :  "  I  wish 
that  the  husbandman  may  sing  parts  of  them  (the  Scriptures)  at  his 
plough,  that  the  weaver  may  warble  them  at  his  shuttle,  that  the 
traveller  may  with  their  narratives  beguile  the  weariness  of  the 
way." 


26  THE  ENGLISH  BIBLE 

no  room  in  my  Lord  of  London's  palace  to  translate 
the  New  Testament,  but  also  that  there  was  no  place 
to  do  it  in  all  England." 

§  4.  Exile. — Voluntarily  therefore  Tindale  deter- 
mined to  exile  himself  in  prosecution  of  his  self- 
appointed  task,  and  in  May  1524  left  England — never  to 
return.  His  movements  for  a  time  are  very  uncertain  ; 
but  it  is  generally  believed  that  he  went  first  to  Hamburg, 
where  shortly  afterwards  he  issued  translations  of  the 
Gospels  of  St.  Matthew  and  St.  Mark  separately. 
Either,  too,  in  this  year  or  the  following,  he  seems  to 
have  visited  Wittenberg,  where  he  would  doubtless  see 
much  of  Luther,  though  we  cannot  accept  the  close 
confederacy  of  the  two  men  in  the  work  of  translation 
which  is  sometimes  alleged. 

In  any  case,  there  can  be  no  doubt  that  Tindale  was 
in  Cologne  in  1525  with  the  view  of  seeing  a  complete 
edition  of  the  New  Testament  in  quarto  through  the 
press.  Little  progress  had  however  been  made  with 
the  work,  when  an  unfortunate  interruption  took  place. 
A  certain  priest,  John  Cochlceus,  managed  to  extract  from 
the  Cologne  printers  while  heated  with  wine  the  secret 
that  3000  copies  of  an  English  New  Testament  were  in 
the  press,  and  that  it  was  the  intention  of  the  English 
merchants,  by  whom  the  expenses  were  being  borne,  to 
disperse  the  work,  when  finished,  widely  through  all 
England.  Cochlaeus  lost  no  time  in  communicating  his 
discovery  to  the  authoi-ities,  and  Tindale  and  his 
assistant  Roye^  had  barely  time  to  "seize  the  precious 
sheets  and  make  their  escape  by  the  Rhine  to  Worms, 
then  known  for  its  favour  to  the  reformed  doctrines. 

§  5-  First  printed  English  New  Testaments.— 

1  Of  this  Roye,  Tindale  in  his  Parable  of  the  Wicked  Mavimon 
gives  no  very  favourable  account.  He  was  "a  man  somewhat 
crafty  when  he  cometh  unto  new  acquaintance,  and  before  he  be 
thorough  known.  .  .  .  Nevertheless,  I  suffered  all  things  till  that 
was  ended,  which  I  could  not  do  alone  without  one  both  to  write 
and  to  help  me  to  compare  the  texts  together.  When  that  was 
ended  I  took  my  leave,  and  bade  him  farewell  for  our  two  lives, 
and,  as  men  say,  a  day  longer." 


WILLIAM  riNDALE—HIS  LIFE  27 


At  Worms  Tindale  set  to  work  once  more,  and  doubtless 
for  the  purpose  of  eluding  detection  the  size  of  the  book 
was  altered,  and  3000  copies  of  an  octavo  edition  were 
issued.  Immediately  afterwards — though  for  this  we 
have  to  rely  on  circumstantial  evidence  only — the  larger 
qitarto  edition,  whose  printing  had  been  interrupted  in 
Cologne,  was  also  completed  at  Worms.  Both  editions,  t^ 
like  the  Wycliffite  versions,  were  at  first  published 
anonymously,  though  for  a  different  reason.  For,  as 
Tindale  himself  tells  us,  "  I  followed  the  counsel  of 
Christ  which  exhorteth  men  (Matt,  vi.)  to  do  their 
good  deeds  secretly,  and  to  be  content  with  the  con- 
science of  welldoing." 

§  6.    Their  Reception  in  England.— We  shall 

return  to  these  New  Testaments  again,  for  all  particulars 
regarding  the/r^^  Neiv  Testamejits  printed  in  English 
cannot  fail  to  be  of  interest ;  but  in  the  meantime 
we  may  notice  that  probably  in  the  spring  of  1526 
copies  of  both  editions  were  dispatched  to  England. 
Warning  of  their  coming  had  already  been  forwarded  to 
King  Henry  VIII.  and  Wolsey  both  by  Cochljeus,  who 
describes  them  as  "that  most  pernicious  article  of 
merchandise,"  and  by  one  Lee,  the  King's  almoner,  who 
had  been  travelling  on  the  Continent ;  but  the  utmost 
efforts  of  the  authorities  seemed  powerless  to  stop  their 
circulation.  Another  plan  was  accordingly  tried,  and 
Tunstal,  Bishop  of  London,  whom  we  have  met  in 
connection  with  Tindale  before,  was  called  upon  to 
denounce  the  new  version  from  St.  Paul's.  This  he  did 
with  great  vehemence,  declaring  "in  his  furiousness " 
that  there  were  above  3000  errors  in  the  translation  ; 
while  his  condemnation  was  accompanied  by  a  public 
burning  of  the  Testaments  both  in  London  and  Oxford. 
It  was  only  what  Tindale  had  expected.  "  In  burning 
the  New  Testament  they  did  none  other  thing  than  that 
I  looked  for  :  no  more  shall  they  do  if  they  burn  me 
also,  if  it  be  God's  will  it  shall  so  be." 

It  is  doubtful  however  whether  all  this  violence  had 
any  other  effect  than  that  of  drawing  increased  atten- 


28  THE  ENGLISH  BIBLE 

tion  to  Tindale's  work.  Thus  in  1528  one  Robert 
Necton  confessed  to  carrying  on  a  regular  work  of 
colportage,  selling  the  New  Testaments  at  2s.  or  2s.  6d. 
bound,  or  according  to  the  present  value  of  money 
^i  :  los.  or  ;^i  :  17  :6  each.  And  the  very  condem- 
nation which  in  1530  an  Assembly  convened  by  Arch- 
bishop Warham  pronounced  against  the  new  version  is 
in  itself  a  proof  of  the  widespread  feeling  in  the  trans- 
lator's favour. 

§  7-  Further  Work  of  Translation.— Meanwhile 

Tindale  was  quietly  continuing  his  work  abroad.  In 
addition  to  other  writings  "no  less  delectable  than 
also  most  fruitful  to  be  read,"  a  translation  of  The 
Five  Books  of  Moses  was  published  at  Marburg  in 
1530,  followed  by  The  Book  of  Jonah  with  an  in- 
teresting Prologue  in  1531.  In  the  same  year  an 
attempt  was  made  through  the  Royal  Envoy  to  decoy 
Tindale  back  to  England,  but  he  would  not  venture. 
Whatever  promises  of  safety  might  be  made,  he  said,  the 
King  would  never  be  able  to  protect  him  from  the 
clergy,  who  affirmed  that  promises  made  with  heretics 
ought  not  to  be  kept.  In  a  subsequent  interview  with 
the  same  Envoy  he  made  an  eloquent  and  pathetic 
appeal  on  behalf  of  the  work  to  which  he  had  devoted 
himself.  "If  it  would  stand,"  he  pleaded,  "with  the 
King's  most  gracious  pleasure  to  grant  only  a  bare  text 
of  the  Scripture  to  be  put  forth  among  his  people  .  .  . 
I  shall  immediately  make  faithful  promise  never  to  write 
more,  nor  abide  two  days  in  these  parts  after  the  same  ; 
but  immediately  to  repair  into  his  realm,  and  there  most 
humbly  submit  myself  at  the  feet  of  His  Royal  Majesty, 
offering  my  body  to  suffer  what  pain  or  torture,  yea, 
what  death  His  Grace  will,  so  that  this  be  obtained." 
The  plea  was  unsuccessful,  and  Tindale  again  resumed 
his  wandering  life.  In  1533  he  sustained  one  of  his 
severest  personal  losses  in  the  martyrdom  of  his  "son 
in  the  faith,"  John  Fryth  ;  but  with  undaunted  spirit  he 
continued  his  work.  An  edition  of  the  Book  of  Genesis, 
"newly    corrected    and    amended,"    and    of    the    New 


WILLIAM  TINDALE — HIS  LIFE  29 

Testament  were  both  published  at  Antwerp  in  1534  ; 
to  the  latter  of  which  were  now  added  certain  "  Epistles," 
or  extracts,  out  of  the  Old  Testament  for  church  use.  One 
copy  of  this  edition  presei-ved  in  the  British  Museum  is  of 
great  interest,  as  believed  to  be  the  identical  copy  sent 
by  Tindale  himself  to  Ann  Boleyn.  The  Queen  had 
interested  herself  on  behalf  of  a  certain  English  merchant, 
Richard  Harman,  who,  in  her  own  words  to  Cromwell, 
**  did,  both  with  his  goods  and  policy,  to  his  great  hurt 
and  hindrance  in  this  world,  help  to  the  setting  forth  of 
the  New  Testament  in  English " ;  and  in  grateful 
recognition  the  translator  had  this  copy  specially  printed 
on  vellum  for  her  acceptance.  The  Queen's  influence 
however,  even  if  exerted,  was  powerless  to  help  Tindale 
himself;  and  in  1535  he  was  betrayed  into  the  hands  of 
his  enemies  by  an  unprincipled  Englishman  named 
Phillips. 

§  8.  Tindale's  last  Days  and  Death.— Tindale's 

place  of  imprisonment  was  the  Castle  of  Vilvorde,  near 
Brussels,  and  we  find  him  writing  from  there  to  the 
Governor  in  a  letter  still  preserved — the  only  document 
in  his  handwriting  known  to  exist ^ — "I  entreat  your 
Lordship,  and  that  by  the  Lord  Jesus,  that  if  I  am  to 
remain  here  (in  Vilvorde)  during  the  winter,  you  will 
request  the  Procureur  to  be  kind  enough  to  send  me, 
from  my  goods  which  he  has  in  his  possession,  a  warmer 
cap,  for  I  suffer  extremely  from  cold  in  the  head  "  ;  and 
then  after  mentioning  several  other  articles  :  "I  also 
wish  his  permission  to  have  a  candle  in  the  evening, 
for  it  is  wearisome  to  sit  alone  in  the  dark.  But  above 
all  I  entreat  and  beseech  your  clemency  to  be  urgent 
with  the  Procureur,  that  he  may  kindly  permit  me  to 
have  my  Hebrew  Bible,  Hebrew  Grammar,  and  Hebrew 
Dictionary,  that  I  may  spend  my  time  with  that  study." 
Whether  this  wish  was  granted  we  do  not  know ; 
nor  can  we  tell  what  part  he  had,  if  any,  in  a  folio 
edition  of  his  New  Testament  which  appeared  about  this 

1  A  facsimile  copy  is  given  in  Demaus'  valuable  work  William 
Tyndale,  a  Biography  (new  edition  by  Lovett),  p.  437. 


30  THE  ENGLISH  BIBLE 

time  in  England — the  first  portion  of  the  sacred  volume 
printed  on  English  soil.  It  has  sometimes  been  traced 
to  the  influence  of  Ann  Boleyn,  whom  we  have  already 
found  on  the  side  of  Bible-circulation  ;  and  in  any  case 
one  would  like  to  think  that  Tind  ale's  closing  days 
were  cheered  with  the  tidings  of  its  appearance.  It 
would  be  a  fitting  rounding -off  of  the  work  to  which 
he  had  devoted  himself  during  these  twelve  years  of  what 
he  elsewhere  pathetically  describes  as  "mine  exile  out 
of  mine  natural  country,  and  bitter  absence  from  my 
friends  "  ;  the  first  dawn  of  that  brighter  day  for  which 
in  his  last  words  he  prayed,  "  Lord,  open  the  King  of 
England's  eyes."  On  Friday  6th  October  1536  this 
"true  servant  and  Martyr  of  God  .  .  .  who  for  his 
notable  pains  and  travail  may  well  be  called  the  Apostle 
of  England  in  this  our  latter  age,"  was  strangled,  and  his 
body  burned  at  the  stake. 


WILLIAM  TINDALE — HIS    WORK  31 


CHAPTER   V 

WILLIAM    TINDALE — HIS   WORK 

I.  The  New  Testament  of  1525.  2.  The  Pentateuch  of 
1530.  3.  The  New  Testament  of  1534.  4.  The 
New  Testaments  of  1535-36. 

In  speaking  of  Tindale's  life  we  noticed  his  principal 
Bible-translations  in  the  order  in  which  they  appeared. 
We  have  now  to  return,  and  bring  together  a  few  facts 
regarding  each  of  these. 

§  I.  The  New  Testament  of  1525.— Of  this  we 

have  seen  that  two  editions  were  issued,  one  in  octavo 
and  another  in  quarto,  each  consisting  of  three  thousand 
copies  ;  but  so  vigorous  were  the  steps  taken  for  their  , 
destruction  that  now  only  the  scantiest  remains  survive. 
The  quarto,  indeed,  was  believed  to  be  wholly  lost  until  i 
in  1836  a  London  bookseller  discovered  a  portion  of  it 
containing  the  Prologue  and  the  first  twenty-one  chapters 
of  St.  Matthew.  This  precious  fragment  is  now  pre- 
served in  the  Grenville  Room  of  the  British  Museum. 
Of  the  octavo  two  copies  are  extant  :  one,  wanting  only 
the  title-page,  in  the  Baptist  College  at  Bristol  ;  the 
other,  more  defective,  in  the  Libraiy  of  St.  Paul's 
Cathedral. 

On  comparison  the  two  editions  prove  in  the  matter 
of  text  to  be  substantially  the  same  ;  in  other  particulars 
there  are  considerable  differences  between  them.  Thus 
while  the  octavo  has  at  the  end  only  a  brief  address 
To  the  Reader,  and  is  without  notes  or  comments  of  any 
kind,  the  quarto  is  prefaced  by  a  lengthy  Prologue  ^ 
1  The  opening  sentences  may  be  given  in  a  note  :  "  I  have  here 


32  THE  ENGLISH  BIBLE 

and  contains  many  marginal  notes.  Both  Prologue 
and  notes  bear  unmistakable  traces  of  the  influence  of 
Luther's  New  Testament,  which  was  published  in  1522  ; 
and  the  list  appended  of  "The  bokes  conteyned  in  the 
newe  Testament  "  follows  exactly  his  order.  That  order 
is  in  some  respects  noteworthy.  As  far  as  the  Epistle  to 
Philemon  it  is  the  same  as  in  our  present  New  Testament, 
the  books  being  numbered  from  i.  to  xviii.  Then,  still 
numbered,  come  ist  and  2nd  Peter  and  the  three  Epistles 
of  St.  John  ;  but  here  the  numbering  ceases,  and  after  a 
slight  gap,  marking  them  off",  as  it  were,  from  the  rest, 
we  have  the  Epistles  to  the  Hebrews,  of  St.  James,  and 
St.  Jude,  and  the  Revelation  of  St.  John.  In  his  revision, 
however,  of  1534,  it  may  here  be  mentioned,  Tindale 
expressly  claims  for  the  Epistle  of  St.  James  that  "  me- 
thinketh  it  ought  of  right  to  be  taken  for  Holy  Scripture" ; 
and  again,  after  examining  Luther's  argument  against  the 
apostolic  authority  of  the  Hebrews,  without  pronouncing 
definitely  on  the  authorship,  he  comes  to  the  conclusion 
that  the  Epistle  "ought  no  more  to  be  refused  for  a 
holy,  godly,  and  catholic  than  the  other  authentic 
Scriptures." 

As  regards  the  translation  of  the  various  books  it  will 
be  best  to  defer  our  remarks  until  we  come  to  the  later 
revisions  which  represent  Tindale's  most  finished  work  ; 
but  as  a  specimen  of  the  parent  edition  of  our  English 
New  Testament,  "  the  veritable  origin  of  all  those 
millions  of  English  Scriptures  now  reading  in  so  many 

translated  (brethren  and  sisters,  most  dear  and  tenderly  beloved  in 
Christ)  the  New  Testament  for  your  spiritual  edifying,  consolation, 
and  solace  :  exhorting  instantly  and  beseeching  those  that  are  better 
seen  in  the  tongues  than  I,  and  that  have  higher  gifts  of  grace  to 
interpret  the  sense  of  the  Scripture  and  meaning  of  the  Spirit  than 
I,  to  consider  and  ponder  my  labours,  and  that  with  the  spirit  of 
meekness.  And  if  they  perceive  in  any  places  that  I  have  not 
attained  the  verjf  sense  of  the  tongue,  or  meaning  of  the  Scripture, 
or  have  not  given  the  right  English  word,  that  they  put  to  their 
hands  to  amend  it,  remembering  that  so  is  their  duty  to  do.  For  we 
have  not  received  the  gifts  of  God  for  ourselves  only,  or  for  to  hide 
them ;  but  for  to  bestow  them  unto  the  honouring  of  God  and 
Christ,  and  edifying  of  the  Congregation  which  is  the  body  of 
Christ.  ' 


WILLIAM  TINDALE — HIS    WORK  33 

different  and  distant  parts  of  the  globe,"  1  the  following 
verses  reproduced  as  closely  as  possible  from  the  original 
quarto  will  be  of  interest. 

Matt.  v.  13-18  (Tindale,  1525,  quarto) 
Ye  are  1^"  the  salt  of  the  erthe,  but  aii  yf  the  salte 
be  once  unsavery  what  can  be  salted  there  with  :  it 
is  thence  forthe  good  for  nothynge  but  to  be  cast  out 
at  the  dores,  and  that  men  treade  it  under  fete.  Ye 
are  the  light  of  the  worlde.  A  cite  that  is  sett  on  an 
hill  cannot  be  hyd,  nether  do  men  light  a  cadle  and 
put  it  under  a  busshell  but  on  a  candlesticke,  and  it 
lighteth  all  those  which  are  in  the  housse.  Se  that 
youre  light  so  schyne  before  men  that  they  maye  se 
youre  good  werks  and  gloryfie  youre  father  which  is  in 
heven. 

Ye  shall  not  thynke  that  y  am  come  to  disanull 
the  lawe  other  the  prophetts  :  no  y  am  not  come  to 
dysanull  them  but  to  fulfyll  them.  For  truely  y  say 
vnto  you  tyll  heven  and  erthe  peiysshe  one  "^^jott 
or  one  tytle  of  the  lawe  shall  not  scape  tyll  all  be 
fulfylled. 

S^  Salte.  Whe  the  pachers  ceasse  too  preache  godds 
worde  the  muste  they  nedes  be  oppressed  and  trod  vnder 
fote  with  mannes  tradicions. 

*  Jott.  Is  as  moche  too  saie  as  the  leest  letter.  For 
so  is  the  leest  letter  that  the  grekes  or  the  hebrues  haue 
called. 

The  Notes  here  appended  are  the  marginal  notes  or 
comments  already  referred  to  as  distinguishing  the  quarto 
edition.  One  or  two  other  examples  may  be  given  in 
modernised  spelling  : — 

Matt.  iii.  9,  "Put  your  trust  in  God's  word  only, 

and  not  in  Abraham.      Let  saints  be  an  example  unto 

you,  and  not  your  trust  and  confidence,  for  then  ye 

make  Christ  of  them." 

1  Anderson,   The  Annals  0/  the  English   Bible,   p.   46  (1  vol 
revised  edition,  1862). 


34  THE  ENGLISH  BIBLE 

Matt.  xi.  30,   *'My  yoke.     The  cross  is  an  easy 

thing  to  them  that  perceive  the  gospel." 

Matt.   XV.    13,   "Traditions    of  men    must  fail  at 

the  last :  God's  word  abideth  ever." 

§  2.  The  Pentateuch  of  1530. — From  the  differences 
of  size  and  type  in  the  separate  books  of  Tindale's  Penta- 
teuch it  is  often  believed  that  they  were  at  first  published 
separately  and  afterwards  collected  into  a  single  volume. 
As  further  bearing  this  out  it  may  be  noted  that  each 
book  has  its  own  Prologue.  That  to  Genesis  is  headed 
"A  prologe  shewing  the  vse  of  the  scripture,"  and 
immediately  follows  the  Preface  "  W.  T.  to  the  Reader." 
Tindale's  initials  are  again  found  at  the  head  of  each 
page  of  the  remaining  four  Prologues.  As  in  the  case 
of  the  quarto  New  Testament  the  translation  is  accom- 
panied by  a  number  of  marginal  notes. 

The  translation  itself  is  marvellously  accurate,  and 
while  largely  influenced  both  by  the  Vulgate  and  by 
Luther,  bears  unmistakable  traces  of  an  independent 
study  of  the  original  Hebrew.  We  cannot  attempt  to 
prove  this  in  detail  here,  and  must  content  ourselves  by 
showing  rather  the  close  relation  of  Tindale  to  our  own 
A.  V.  In  the  following  passage  for  the  purpose  of  better 
comparison  the  spelling  is  modernised,  and  all  differences 
from  the  A.V.  distinguished  by  italics. 

Deut.  vi.  4-9  (Tindale,  1530) 
Hear,  Israel,  The  Lord  thy  God  is  Lord  07ily,  and 
thou  shalt  love  the  Lord  thy  God  with  all  thine  heart, 
with  all  thy  soul,  and  with  all  thy  might.  And  these 
words,  which  I  command  thee  this  day,  shall  be  in 
thine  heart :  and  thou  shalt  whet  them  on  thy  children, 
and  shalt  talk  of  them  when  thou  art  at  ho??ie  in  thine 
house  and  as  thou  walkest  by  the  way,  and  when  thou 
liest  down,  and  when  thou  risest  up  ;  and  thou  shalt 
bind  them  for  a  sign  upon  thine  hand.  And  they 
shall  he.  papers  of  remejnbrance  between  thine  eyes,  and 
shalt  write  them  upon  the  posts  of  thy  house,  and 
upon  thy  gates, 


WILLIAM  TINDALE — HIS  WORK  35 

It  will  be  seen,  therefore,  that  out  of  1 12  words  Tindale 
has  only  1 2  which  differ  from  the  version  now  in  use  ;  all, 
with  two  exceptions,  being  changes  of  slight  moment. 
The  two  exceptions,  ^'■papers  of  remembrance''^  and  '■'■whet 
(?;/,"  prove  on  examination  to  be  renderings  due  to  Luther's 
influence,  though  in  neither  case  does  Tindale  slavishly 
copy.  In  the  first  instance  the  German  has  only  "a 
remembratice,''''  and  in  the  second  the  verb  employed 
denotes  "w//^/"  or  '■'■sharpen''''  rather  than  '■^  7vhet  on,''^ 
as  in  our  own  A.  V.  margin.  In  a  marginal  note  Tindale 
further  explains  "whet  on"  as  equivalent  to  "sharpen, 
discipline,  stimulate  "  ;•  and  in  a  second  note  he  remarks 
on  the  whole  passage  :  "  It  is  heresy  with  us  for  a  lay- 
man to  look  of  God's  word,  or  to  read  it." 

It  must  not  however  be  imagined,  to  pass  to  the 
Notes  generally,  that  all  are  of  the  same  tone  as  these. 
Very  many,  unfortunately,  are  of  a  bitterly  controversial 
character,  and  how  trenchant  his  criticisms  could  be  the 
following  examples  will  show  : — 

Gen.  xxiv.  60  {"And  they  blessed  Rebecca""). — 
"To  bless  a  man's  neighbour  is  to  pray  for  him,  and 
to  wish  him  good  :  and  not  to  wag  two  fingers  over 
him  "  (with  allusion  to  the  episcopal  benediction  in 
the  Church  of  Rome). 

Exod.  xxxii.  32  {'■'■If  not,  wipe  me  out  of  thy 
book"). — "O  pitiful  Moses,  and  likewise  O  merciful 
Paul,  Rom.  ix.  And  O  abominable  Pope  with  all 
his  merciless  idols." 

Numb.  xvi.  15  {'^  I  have  not  taken  so  much  as  ati 
ass  from  them  "). — "  Can  our  prelates  so  say  ?  " 

Numb,  xxiii.  8  {'■'How  shall  I  curse''). — "The 
Pope  can  tell  how." 

Deut.  xi.  19  ("  Talk  of  them  when  thou  sittest  "), — 
"Talk  of  Robin  Hood,  say  our  prelates." 

Notes  such  as  these  cannot  be  admired,  though  in 
judging  them  regard  must  be  had  to  the  peculiar  cir- 
cumstances in  which  Tindale  was  placed.  That,  too,  he 
himself  regretted   them   is   proved   by  the   fact  that  an 


36  THE  ENGLISH  BIBLE 

entirely  new  set  of  notes,  wholly  of  a  hortatory  and  ex- 
planatory character,  are  substituted  in  the  revised  edition 
of  Genesis  published  in  1534.  Had  Tindale  succeeded 
in  revising  the  other  Books  of  the  Pentateuch,  he  would 
in  all  probability  have  banished  the  polemical  notes  from 
them  also. 

But  if  we  cannot  admire  the  majority  of  Tindale's 
notes  in  their  present  form,  nothing  but  unqualified  praise 
attaches  to  his  Prologues.  They  are  amongst  the  most 
characteristic  specimens  of  his  writings,  and  are  full  of 
beautiful  and  suggestive  passages.  Detached  sentences 
do  them  scant  justice,  but  may  give  an  idea  of  their 
character.  This,  for  example,  is  how  the  Prologue  to 
Genesis  begins  :  "Though  a  man  had  a  precious  jewel 
and  a  rich,  yet  if  he  wist  not  the  value  thereof  nor  where- 
fore it  served,  he  were  neither  the  better  nor  richer  of  a 
straw.  Even  so  though  we  read  the  Scripture  and  babble 
of  it  never  so  much,  yet  if  we  know  not  the  use  of  it,  and 
wherefore  it  was  given,  and  what  is  therein  to  be  sought, 
it  profiteth  us  nothing  at  all."  How  again  could  the 
right  use  of  the  Jewish  ceremonies  be  better  described 
than  in  these  words  from  the  Prologue  to  Exodus  :  "Of 
the  ceremonies,  sacrifices,  and  tabernacle  with  all  its 
glory  and  pomp  understand  that  they  were  not  permitted 
only,  but  also  commanded  of  God  ;  to  lead  the  people  in 
the  shadows  of  Moses  and  night  of  the  Old  Testament ; 
until  the  light  of  Christ  and  day  of  the  New  Testament 
were  come  :  as  children  are  led  in  the  phantasies  of 
youth,  until  the  discretion  of  man's  age  become  upon 
them."  While  once  more  the  Book  of  Deuteronomy  is 
pronounced  to  be  "  the  most  excellent  of  all  the  books  of 
Moses.  It  is  easy  also  and  light  and  a  very  pure 
gospel,  that  is,  to  wit,  a  preaching  of  faith  and  love  : 
deducing  the  love  to  God  out  of  faith,  and  the  love  of  a 
man's  neighbour  out  of  the  love  of  God." 

§  3.    The  New  Testament  of  1534.— In  the   ^ 

Address  attached  to  his  first  edition  (octavo)  of  1525,      ' 
Tindale  acknowledged  that  the  translation  was  by  no 
means  so  perfect  as  he  would  have  liked.      "  Count  it," 


IVILLIAM  TINDALE — HIS    WORK  37 

so  he  humbly  says,  "  as  a  thing  not  having  his  full  shape, 
but  as  it  were  born  afore  his  time,  even  as  a  thing  begun 
rather  than  finished."  And  it  had  accordingly  been  his 
fixed  aim  to  "give  it  its  full  shape,"  and  to  "seek  in 
certain  places  more  proper  English. "  Circumstances  for 
a  time  prevented  the  carrying  out  of  his  wish,  until  in 
the  autumn  of  1534  he  was  roused  to  immediate  action. 
The  cause  was  the  issue  by  one  George  Joye  of  an 
edition  of  the  New  Testament  which  claimed  to  be  < 
"diligently  ouersene  and  corrected";  but  which  in 
reality  was  nothing  but  Tindale's  translation  with 
various  changes — they  cannot  be  called  improvements — 
introduced  from  the  Vulgate.  Indignant  at  Joye  who, 
he  felt,  "had  not  used  the  office  of  an  honest  man," 
Tindale  immediately  completed  his  own  revision,  and 
issued  it  a  few  months  later  from  the  press  of  Martin 
Lempereur  in  Antwerp.     The  title  runs  : — 

"  The  Newe  Testament  dylygently  corrected  and 

compared  with  the  Greek  by  Willyam  Tindale,  and 

fyneshed    in    the   yere   of  our   Lorde   God   md   and 

xxxiiij.  in  the  moneth  of  November." 

Then  we  have,  "  W.  T.  to  the  Christen  reader," 
seventeen  pages.  "A  prologe  into  the  iiii.  Evan- 
gelystes,"  four  pages.  "Willyam  Tindale,  yet  once 
more,  to  the  Christen  reader,"  nine  pages.  At  the  end 
are  the  Epistles  taken  out  of  the  Old  Testament,  and  a 
Table  of  Epistles  and  Gospels  for  Sundays,  with  "  some 
things  added"  to  fill  up  the  blank  pages  at  the  end. 
There  are  woodcuts  in  the  Book  of  Revelation,  and 
some  small  ones  at  the  beginning  of  the  Gospels  and 
several  of  the  Epistles. 

The  book  was  thus  in  some  respects  more  like  a 
modern  Church  Service  Book  than  an  ordinary  Testa- 
ment, and  everything  about  it  bears  evidence  to  the 
extreme  care  with  which  it  was  prepared,  while  the 
improvements  introduced  into  the  text  fully  justify  the 
translator's  own  claim,  that  he  had  "weeded  out  of  it 
many  faults  which  lack  of  help  at  the  beginning,  and 
oversight,  did  sow  therein." 


38  THE  ENGLISH  BIBLE 

This  can  only  be  shown  by  the  help  of  an  example  ; 
and  for  convenience  we  may  take  the  same  passage  of 
which  we  have  already  given  the  1525  version  (p.  33). 

Matt.  v.  13-18  (Tindale,  1534) 

Ye  are  the  salt  of  the  erthe  :  but  an  yf  the  salt 
have  lost  hir  saltnes  what  can  be  salted  therwith  ? 
It  is  thence  forthe  good  for  nothinge  but  to  be  cast  oute, 
and  to  be  troaden  vnder  fote  of  men.  Ye  are  the  light  of 
the  worlde.  A  cite  that  is  set  on  an  hill  cannot  be  hid. 
Nether  do  men  lyght  a  candell  and  put  it  vnder  a 
bushell  but  on  a  candelstick,  and  it  lighteth  all  that 
are  in  the  house.  Let  your  light  so  shyne  before 
men,  that  they  maye  se  your  good  workes,  and  glorify 
youre  father  which  is  in  heven. 

Thinke  not  that  I  am  come  to  destroye  the  lawe  or 
the  Prophets  :  no  I  am  nott  come  to  destroye  them, 
but  to  fulfill  them.  For  truely  I  saye  vnto  you,  till 
heven  and  erthe  perisshe,  one  iott  or  one  tytle  of  the 
lawe  shall  not  scape,  tyll  all  be  fulfilled. 

If  now  the  two  versions  are  compared,  it  will  be  seen 
that  in  the  later  version  Tindale  has  substituted  the  more 
exact  "have  lost  hir  saltnes"  for  "be  once  unsavery  "  ; 
has  omitted  "  at  the  dores  "  for  which  there  is  no  warrant 
in  the  original ;  has  adopted  the  more  literal  renderings 
"to  be  troaden"  and  "let  your  light  so  shyne"  for 
"  that  men  treade  "  and  "  se  that  youre  light  so  schyne  "  ; 
and  finally  has  corrected  "ye  shall  not  thynke  that  y 
am  come  to  disanull"  into  "thinke  not  that  I  am 
come  to  destroye."  Or,  in  all,  he  has  introduced  five 
distinct  improvements  in  as  many  sentences.  It  must 
not  be  thought  however  that  the  changes  throughout  are 
on  an  average  so  numerous  as  this  ;  and  indeed  their 
comparative  fewness  on  the  whole  has  been  fairly  claimed 
as  proving  the  excellence  of  Tindale's_;frj^  attempt. 

But  interesting  though  it  is,  we  must  not  dwell  on  this 
comparison  of  the  two  editions  any  longer,  but  proceed 
rather    to    present   Tindale's    amended    rendering    of  a 


WILLIAM  TINDALE — HIS    WORK  39 

difficult  passage  from  the  Epistles,  in  order  to  illustrate 
further  his  skill  as  a  translator. 

Phil.  ii.  5-1 1  (Tindale,  1534) 

Let  the  same  mynde  be  in  you  that  was  in  Christ 
lesu :  which  beynge  in  the  shape  of  God,  and 
thought  it  not  robbery  to  be  equall  with  God. 
Nevertheless  he  made  him  silfe  of  no  reputacioun, 
and  toke  on  him  the  shape  of  a  servaunte,  and  became 
lyke  vnto  men,  and  was  founde  in  his  aparell  as  a 
man.  He  humbled  him  silfe  and  became  obedient 
vnto  the  deeth,  even  the  deeth  of  the  crosse.  Wher- 
fore  God  hath  exalted  him,  and  geven  him  a  name 
above  all  names  :  that  in  the  name  of  lesus  shuld 
every  knee  bowe,  bothe  of  thinges  in  heven  and  thinges 
in  erth  and  thinges  vnder  erth,  and  that  all  tonges 
shuld  confesse  that  lesus  Christ  is  the  lorde  vnto 
the  prayse  of  God  the  father. 

The  student  who  compares  this  passage  for  himself 
with  Purvey's  rendering  on  p.  16  will  at  once  remark 
the  advance  that  has  been  made,  while  on  the  other 
hand  he  cannot  fail  to  be  struck  with  the  number  of 
Tindale's  renderings  which  have  kept  their  place  in  the 
A.  V.  In  one  important  passage,  "  in  the  name  of  Jesus  " 
for  "at  the  name  of  Jesus,"  the  R.V.  agrees  both  with 
Purvey  and  Tindale  as  against  the  A.V. 

To  his  revised  Testament  Tindale  added  also  a 
number  of  marginal  NoteS,  which  are  happily  free  from 
the  controversial  spirit  which  marked  those  on  the  Penta- 
teuch. Thus  on  St,  John  vii.  17  he  remarks,  "  He  that 
loveth  the  will  of  God  to  keep  His  law  ;  the  same  under- 
standeth  the  doctrine  "  ;  on  Rom.  iii.  31,  "  Faith  main- 
taineth  the  law,  because  thereby  we  obtain  power  to  love 
it  and  to  keep  it";  and  on  i  Cor.  xiv.  20,  "All  deeds 
must  be  sauced  with  the  doctrine  of  God,  and  not  with 
good  meaning  only " ;  while  with  his  comment  on  St. 
Paul's  admission  in  Phil.  iii.  13,  letting  us  into  his  own 
inmost  heart,   we  may  fittingly  take  leave  of  the  book 


40  THE  ENGLISH  BIBLE 

which  Bishop  Westcott  has  described  as  Tindale's 
"  noblest  monument  " — "  I  look  not  upon  the  works  that 
I  have  done,  but  what  I  lack  of  the  perfectness  of 
Christ." 

§  4.   The  New  Testaments  of  1535-36.— In 

1535  there  appeared  what  is  often  known  as  the 
G.H.  Testament  from  the  publisher's  initials  which  are 
attached,  and  which  reproduces  the  1534  text,  "yet 
once  agayne  corrected  by  Willyam  Tindale."  The 
corrections  now  introduced  are  not  so  numerous  as 
between  the  texts  of  1534  and  1525,  but  their  very 
minuteness  affords  striking  proof  of  the  translator's 
continued  industry  and  zeal. 

A  New  Testament  bearing  the  same  date  is  very  remark- 
able for  its  peculiar  orthography,  "  faether  "  for  father, 
"  hoeme  "or  "  hoome  "  for  home,  "  yought  "  for  youth. 
Various  explanations  of  these  misspellings  have  been 
offered,  such  as  that  they  were  purposely  adapted  "  to  the 
pronunciation  of  the  peasantry"  in  fulfilment  of  Tindale's 
early  determination  ;  but  in  all  probability  they  are  due 
simply  to  the  mistakes  of  some  Flemish  printer  in  setting 
up  a  foreign  language.  In  this  edition  for  the  first  time 
headings  are  prefixed  to  the  chapters  in  the  Gospels  and 
the  Acts  ;  but  the  marginal  notes,  which  had  found  their 
way  into  the  1534  edition,  are  wholly  dropped.  What- 
ever the  cause,!  we  may  be  thankful  that  Tindale's  last 
work,  like  his  first,  contained  nothing  but  the  ' '  bare  text 
of  the  Scripture,"  which,  as  he  had  repeatedly  declared, 
was  in  itself  enough  for  all  the  people's  needs. 

As  proving  the  rapid  spread  of  Tindale's  translations 
it  may  be  mentioned  that  in  the  following  year,  1536, 
seven  if  not  eight  editions  of  his  New  Testament 
appeared,  one  of  which  is  believed  to  have  been  the  first 
portion   of  the   Holy   Scriptures  printed  in  England  ;  ^ 

1  It  may  be  due  to  some  words  of  Joye's,  whose  force  Tindale 
could  not  but  feel.  "  I  would,"  writes  Joye,  "  the  Scriptures  were 
so  purely  and  plainly  translated  that  it  needed  neither  note,  gloss, 
nor  scholia,  so  that  the  reader  might  once  swim  without  a  cork." 

2  These  and  many  other  interesting  particulars  will  be  found  in 
A  Bibliographical  Description  of  the  Editions  of  The  New   Testa- 


WILLIAM  TINDALE — HIS    WORK  41 

while  it  is  further  noteworthy  that  John  Rogers  printed 
the  1535  G.H.  text  almost  verbatim  in  his  Bible  of 
I537>  through  which  Tindale's  work  has  passed  into  our 
own  Authorised  Version. 

ment,  Tyndales  Version,  in  English,  by  Francis  Fry,  London, 
1878. 


THE  ENGLISH  BIBLE 


CHAPTER    VI 

WILLIAM    TINDALE — HIS    INFLUENCE 

I.  Tindale's  independence  as  a  translator,     2.  Influence  on 
subsequent  versions.     3.   General  estimate  of  Tindale. 

In  following  the  story  of  Tindale's  life  and  work  we 
cannot  fail  to  have  been  struck  with  the  clearness  with 
which  from  the  first  he  saw  what  was  wanted,  and  the 
marvellous  steadfastness  of  purpose  with  which  he  sought 
to  carry  that  out.  The  resolution  formed  so  far  back 
as  the  days  at  Little  Sodbury,  to  bring  the  knowledge  of 
Scripture  within  the  reach  of  even  the  "  boy  that  driveth 
the  plough,"  was  never  for  a  moment  lost  sight  of, 
and  unlike  many  martyrs  and  reformers  he  had  the 
satisfaction  in  the  hour  of  death  of  knowing  that  his 
wish  was  in  a  fair  way  of  being  realised.  Over  the 
outward  details  of  Tindale's  career  we  can  however  no 
longer  linger,  but  before  we  part  from  him  there  are  one 
or  two  general  points  bearing  on  his  work  which  must 
be  noted,  if  we  would  estimate  aright  his  character  and 
influence  as  a  translator. 

§  I.  Tindale's  Independence  as  a  Translator. 

— Foremost  amongst  these  is  the  question,  How  far  in 
his  work  of  translation  Tindale  was  influenced  by  other 
workers  in  the  same  field,  and  more  particularly  by  the 
German  Testament  of  Luther?  Sir  Thomas  More,  for 
example,  who  during  Tindale's  lifetime  had  been 
specially  commissioned  to  attack  his  translation,  asserts 
that  "at  the  time  of  his  translation  of  the  New  Testa- 
ment Tindale  was  with  Luther  at  Wittenberg,  and  the 
confederacy  between  him  and  Luther  was  well  known  "  ; 


WILLIAM  TINDALE—HIS  INFLUENCE      43 

an  assertion  which  Tindale  meets  wth  the  direct  denial, 
"  When  he  (More)  saith  Tindale  was  confederate  with 
Luther,  that  is  not  truth." 

A  careful  comparison  moreover  of  the  respective 
texts  amply  confirms  this  denial.  For  though  it  is 
clear  that  Tindale  had  Luther's  Testament  before  him 
as  he  worked,  and  borrowed  freely  from  his  Prefaces 
and  marginal  notes,  it  is  equally  clear  that  in  the  matter 
of  the  text  he  took  up  a  wholly  independent  attitude, 
and  used  Luther  and  all  other  aids  within  his  reach  * '  as 
a  master,  and  not  as  a  disciple."  That  he  had  a 
right  to  do  so,  all  that  we  can  gather  regarding  his 
personal  scholarship  abundantly  proves.  His  bitter 
opponent  Cochlieus  speaks  both  of  him  and  his  associate 
at  Cologne  as  "learned,  skilful  in  languages,  and 
eloquent "  ;  George  Joye,  against  whom  he  had  such 
just  cause  of  complaint,  admits  his  "high  learning  in 
his  Hebrew,  Greek,  Latin,"  etc.  :  while  an  eminent 
German  scholar,  Herman  Buschius,  describes  him  as 
"so  skilled  in  seven  languages,  Hebrew,  Greek,  Latin, 
Italian,  Spanish,  English,  French,  that  whichever  he 
spoke  you  would  suppose  it  his  native  tongue." 

We  have  no  difficulty  therefore  in  accepting  the  con- 
clusion that  to  Tindale  belongs  the  undoubted  honour  of 
being  the  first  in  England  at  any  rate  (with  the  possible 
exception  of  Bede)  of  going  straight  to  the  Hebrew  and 
Greek  originals  ;  while  his  subsequent  alterations  and 
revisions  all  bear  witness  to  his  anxiety  to  bring  his 
translation  into  ever  closer  approximation  to  these.  ^ 

How  far  in  so  translating,  his  language  was  influenced 
by  previous  English  versions,  it  is  more  difficult  to  say 

1  Tindale's  Hebrew  scholarship  has  sometimes  been  strangely 
called  in  question  ;  but  even  granting  that  he  may  not  have  had 
much  acquaintance  with  the  language  when  he  left  England,  he 
must  verj-  soon  have  acquired  it.  The  testimonies  just  cited  alone 
prove  this,  and  are  supported  by  his  own  notes  in  his  Pentateuch  on 
peculiar  Hebrew  words,  and  by  the  clear  way  in  which  he  elsewhere 
remarks  on  the  properties  of  the  Hebrew  tongue.  Nor  in  his 
.  I  «j:<rr  to  More  could  he  have  spoken  in  the  way  that  he  does  of 
the  Hebrew  text  as  "most  of  need  to  be  known"  imless  he  had 
himself  been  familiar  with  it. 


44  THE  ENGLISH  BIBLE 

precisely.  We  have  on  the  one  hand  his  own  statement 
that  he  "had  no  man  to  counterfeit,  neither  was  holpen 
with  English  of  any  that  had  interpreted  the  same  or 
such  like  thing  in  the  Scripture  beforetime "  ;  while 
on  the  other  hand  the  most  cursory  comparison  of  his 
renderings  with  Purvey's  revision  reveals  an  identity  of 
language  and  expression  which  it  is  difficult  to  reconcile 
with  total  independence.  Dr.  Moulton  has  however 
pointed  out  that  in  many  cases  the  Vulgate  supplies  the 
connecting  link,  and  that  in  others  the  explanation 
probably  is  that  the  earlier  Wycliffite  renderings  had 
passed  into  general  currency,  and  become  almost  pro- 
verbial phrases.  1  In  using  these  in  his  translation 
Tindale  may  therefore  have  been  more  indebted  to 
Wyclifife  and  his  successor  than  he  was  himself  aware  of ; 
and  in  the  same  general  sense  we  may  at  once  accept  the 
words  of  the  editors  of  The  Wycliffite  Versions,  that  at 
the  period  of  the  Reformation  these  versions  "  supplied 
an  example  and  a  model  to  those  excellent  men,  who  in 
like  manner  devoted  themselves  at  the  hazard  of  their 
lives  to  the  translation  of  Scripture,  and  to  its  pubHcation 
among  the  people  of  the  land." 

§  2.  Influence   on   subsequent  Versions. — If 

however  Tindale  was  thus  in  the  main  independent  of 
previous  translators,  his  influence  on  all  who  succeeded 
him  is  direct  and  unmistakable.  Indeed  we  are  probably 
not  overstating  the  case  when  we  say  that  all  future  trans- 
lations of  the  English  Bible  are  in  the  main  little  else 
than  revisions  of  his  work  so  far  as  it  had  gone.  We 
shall  meet  with  frequent  examples  of  this  in  the  chapters 
that  follow  ;  but  in  the  meantime  it  may  not  be  out  of 
place  to  indicate  briefly  one  or  two  of  the  sources  of  his 
power. 

Thus  it  is  he  who  has  given  us  our  religions  vocabu- 
lary. In  the  whole  of  Tindale's  New  Testament  it  has 
been  estimated  that  the  number  of  strange  words,  that 

1  Obvious  examples  are  the  use  of  "  mote  "  and  "  beam  "  in  both 
versions  in  Matt.  vii.  3,  and  their  common  description  of  the 
"  strait  gate,"  and  the  "  narrow  "  way,  a  few  verses  farther  on. 


WILLIAM  TINDALE — HIS  INFLUENCE     45 

is,  words  which  are  not  found  in  our  Authorised  Version, 
is  probably  below  350,  and  many  of  these  occur  only 
once  or  twice.  What  is  more  important,  in  the  general 
character  of  the  Bible  diction,  its  union  of  stateliness 
and  homeliness,  of  majesty  and  sweetness,  we  may 
still  see  "a  reflection  of  the  high  purpose  which  evoked 
the  effort.  Our  Bible  translation  actually  generated  a 
new  dialect  in  the  English  language  ;  it  produced  the 
happiest  type  of  diction  that  ever  grew  upon  the  prolific 
stock  of  our  mother  tongue."  ^ 

But  Tindale  did  more  than  give  his  successors  words 
in  which  to  translate  ;  he  showed  them  also  the  spiy-it  in 
which  alone  the  work  ought  to  be  entered  on.  His 
singleness  of  aim,  his  noble  self-forgetfulness,  his  honesty 
of  purpose,  stand  revealed  on  every  page  of  his  work. 
"I  call  God  to  record,"  so  he  writes  to  his  friend 
Fryth  in  1532,  "against  the  day  we  shall  appear  before 
our  Lord  Jesus,  to  give  a  reckoning  of  our  doings,  that  I 
never  altered  one  syllable  of  God's  word  against  my 
conscience,  nor  would  this  day,  if  all  that  is  in  the  earth, 
whether  it  be  pleasure,  honour,  or  riches,  might  be  given 
me."  And  in  the  last  words  which  we  have  from  him 
regarding  his  work  he  says  :  "As  concerning  all  I  have 
translated  or  otherwise  written,  I  beseech  all  men  to  read 
it  for  that  purpose  I  wrote  it,  even  to  bring  them  to  the 
knowledge  of  the  Scripture.  And  as  far  as  the  Scrip- 
ture approveth  it,  so  far  to  allow  it,  and  if  in  any  place 
the  word  of  God  disallow  it,  there  to  refuse  it,  as  I  do 
before  our  Saviour  Christ  and  His  Congregation." 

Bishop  Westcott  is  therefore  not  doing  more  than 
giving  Tindale  his  due  when  he  writes  :  "  He  toiled 
faithfully  himself,  and  where  he  failed  he  left  to  those 
who  should  come  after  the  secret  of  success.  The 
achievement  was  not  for  one  but  for  many  ;  but  he  fixed 
the  type  according  to  which  the  later  labourers  worked. 
His  influence  decided  that  our  Bible  should  be  popular 
and  not  literary,  speaking  in  a  simple  dialect,  and  that 
so  by  its  simplicity  it  should  be  endowed  with  permanence." 
1  Earle,  The  Psalter  0/ the  Great  Bible  of  1539,  Introd.  p.  xlvii. 


46  THE  ENGLISH  BIBLE 

§  3.  Estimate  of  Tindale  as  a  Translator.— In 

view  of  a  testimony  such  as  that,  it  is  an  ungracious  task 
to  point  out  wherein  Tindale's  translations  failed,  and 
yet  it  would  be  idle,  of  course,  to  pretend  that  he  fell  into 
no  mistakes.  Many  of  his  renderings  are  incorrect, 
others  are  uncouth,  others  are  paraphrases  rather  than 
translations.  Serious  faults  too  are  his  constant  dis- 
regard of  connecting  particles  ("and,"  "for,''  etc.),  his 
neglect  of  the  Greek  article,  and  his  habit  of  translating 
the  same  Greek  word  in  different  ways  in  the  same  sen- 
tence— a  habit  in  which  the  translators  of  the  Authorised 
Version  unfortunately  followed  him.  Thus,  to  illustrate 
this  last  point  only,  all  must  feel  how  inferior  in  force  is 
his  rendering  of  Matt.  xxi.  41  in  the  1534  Testament, 
"  He  will  cruelly  destroy  those  evil  persons,"  to  our 
revised  "  He  will  miserably  destroy  those  miserable 
men";  or  of  i  Cor.  iii.  17,  "If  any  man  defile  the 
temple  of  God,  him  shall  God  destroy,"  to  "If  any  man 
destroy eth  the  temple  of  God,  him  shall  God  destroy ^ 
On  the  other  hand,  in  not  a  few  instances  where  the 
Authorised  Version  has  introduced  an  unnecessary  change, 
Tindale  has  kept  up  the  connection  of  the  Greek,  as 
"  Our  ableness  cometh  of  God,  which  hath  made  us  able 
to  minister  the  new  testament"  {'■^ siifficiency^''''  "rt^/(?," 
Authorised  Version),  2  Cor.  iii.  5,  6;  and  "About  the 
seat  were  xxiiii  seats''  ("throne"  "seats,"  Authorised 
Version),  Rev.  iv.  4. 

No  more  convincing  proof  indeed  of  Tindale's  mar- 
vellous care  and  exactness  on  the  whole  can  be  given 
than  the  number  of  places  in  which  the  revisers  of  1881 
have  gone  back  to  his  renderings  in  preference  to  those 
adopted  in  the  Authorised  Version  ;  while  it  must  not 
be  forgotten  that  in  many  places  where  they  differ,  the 
fault  lay  not  with  Tindale,  but  with  the  inferior  Greek 
text  with  which  he  had  to  work. 

Take  it  all  in  all,  his  translation  is  a  noble  one,  and 
Fuller's  eulogy  is  not  exaggerated:  "What  he  under- 
took was  to  be  admired  as  glorious  ;  what  he  performed, 
to  be  commended  as  profitable ;  wherein  he  failed,  is  to 


WILLIAM  TINDALE—HIS  INFLUENCE     47 

be  excused  as  pardonable,  and  to  be  scored  on  the 
account  rather  of  that  age,  than  of  the  author  himself." 
Or  in  the  eloquent  words  of  Mr.  Froude  :  "  The  peculiar 
genius — if  such  a  word  may  be  permitted — which  breathes 
through  it  —  the  mingled  tenderness  and  majesty — the 
Saxon  simplicity  —  the  preternatural  grandeur  —  un- 
equalled, unapproached,  in  the  attempted  improvements 
of  modern  scholars — all  are  here,  and  bear  the  impress 
of  the  mind  of  one  man,  William  Tyndal." 


48  THE  ENGLISH  BIBLE 


CHAPTER    VII 

MILES    COVERDALE 

I.  Early  years.  2.  Description  of  Bible  of  1535.  3. 
Coverdale  as  a  translator.  4.  Specimens  of  transla- 
tion.    5.    New  editions.      6.    Closing  years  and  death. 

When  in  1530  Warham's  Assembly  formally  condemned 
the  use  of  Tindale's  New  Testament,^  all  hope  of  an 
authorised  vernacular  translation  was  not  thereby  de- 
stroyed. On  the  contrary,  it  was  at  the  same  time 
distinctly  stated  that  the  King  had  been  led  to  take 
this  step  lest  "the  divulging  of  this  Scripture  at  this 
time  in  the  English  tongue  "  should  tend  rather  to  the 
people's  "  further  confusion  and  destruction  than  the 
edification  of  their  souls  "  ;  but  that  he  himself  would 
have  the  New  Testament  "by  learned  men  faithfully 
and  purely  translated,"  and  so  ready  to  be  given  forth 
at  a  more  convenient  season.  It  may  be  questioned 
whether  Henry  ever  really  contemplated  the  fulfilment 
of  his  promise  ;  but  in  any  case  it  was.  not  forgotten  by 
others.  Towards  the  close  of  the  same  year  a  singularly 
noble  letter  was  addressed  to  him  by  Hugh  Latimer,  in 
which  the  bold  reformer  called  upon  the  King  to  im- 
plement his  promise  "even  to-day  before  to-morrow." 
"  And  take  heed,"  so  he  continued,  "  whose  counsels 
your  Grace  doth  take  in  this  matter,  that  you  may  do 
that  God  commandeth,  and  not  that  seemeth  good  in 
your  own  sight  without  the  Word  of  God  ;  that  your 
Grace  may  be  found  acceptable  in  His  sight,  and  one  of 
the  members  of  His  Church  ;  and,  according  to  the  office 
1  See  above,  p.  28 


MILES  COVERDALE  49 

that  he  hath  called  your  Grace  unto,  you  may  be  found 
a  faithful  minister  of  His  gifts,  and  not  a  defender  of  His 
faith  ;  for  He  will  not  have  it  defended  by  man  or  man's 
power,  but  by  His  Word  only,  by  the  which  He  hath 
evermore  defended  it,  and  that  by  a  way  far  above  man's 
power,  or  reason,  as  all  the  stories  of  the  Bible  make 
mention." 

To  the  same  end,  a  few  years  later,  a  Convocation 
presided  over  by  Cranmer,  the  recently-appointed  Arch- 
bishop of  Canterbury,  petitioned  that  "  His  Majesty 
would  vouchsafe  to  decree  that  the  Sacred  Scriptures 
should  be  translated  into  the  English  tongue  by  certain 
honest  and  learned  men,  named  for  that  purpose  by  His 
Majesty,  and  should  be  delivered  to  the  people  according 
to  their  learning."  We  are  not  told  the  result  of  this 
petition — possibly,  in  the  then  heated  and  divided  state  of 
public  opinion,  it  may  never  have  been  presented  to  the 
King  at  all ;  but,  emboldened  by  its  tone,  Cranmer  set 
about  the  work  of  translation  himself,  dividing  the  Bible 
into  different  parts,  and  soliciting  the  aid  of  the  most 
learned  bishops  and  others.  His  project  came  to  nothing ; 
but  meanwhile  there  had  been  quietly  working  away  on 
the  Continent  a  scholar  whose  labours  were  to  have  a 
marked  influence  on  the  whole  future  of  Bible-translation. 
His  name  was  Miles  Coverdale,  and  his  story,  so  far 
as  bearing  upon  the  subject  before  us,  is  quickly  told. 

§  I.  Early  Years. — Miles  Coverdale  was  born  in 
the  year  1488  in  the  North  Riding  of  Yorkshire,  and  is 
described  as  ' '  from  his  childhood  given  to  learning, 
wherein  he  profited  much."  At  a  fitting  age  he  was 
attached  to  the  Augustine  Monastery  at  Cambridge,  from 
which  we  find  him  writing,  probably  in  1527,  to  Crom- 
well, into  whose  good  graces  he  had  got  :  "  For  now  I 
begin  to  taste  of  Holy  Scriptures  ;  now,  honour  be  to 
God  !  I  am  set  to  the  most  sweet  smell  of  holy  letters." 

Shortly  afterwards  Coverdale  united  himself  with  the 
reforming  party,  and  in  consequence,  in  1529,  had  to 
cross  the  Channel  for  safety.  According  to  Foxe,  he 
joined  Tindale  at   Hamburg,  "and  helped  him  in  the 


50  THE  ENGLISH  BIBLE 

translating  of  the  whole  five  books  of  Moses."  Opinions 
vary  as  to  how  far  this  statement  is  to  be  literally  under- 
stood ;  there  can,  however,  be  little  doubt  that  about 
this  time  the  two  scholars  did  meet,  and  that  Coverdale's 
zeal  in  the  work  of  translation  received  a  fresh  impulse. 
The  result  was  seen  when  in  1534,  acting  apparently  on 
the  advice  of  Cromwell,  who  saw  the  turn  that  things 
were  taking,  he  was  ready  "  to  set  forth  "  his  translation, 
and  on  4th  October  1535  the  Jirst  complete  printed 
English  Bible  was  issued.  For  it  will  be  kept  in  view 
that  Wycliffe's  Bible,  though  complete,  was  only  in  MS. ; 
and  that  Tindale's,  though  printed,  was  complete  only 
so  far  as  the  New  Testament  was  concerned.  All  that  we 
can  learn  therefore  regarding  this  volume  cannot  fail  to  be 
of  interest.  The  astonishing  thing  is  that  so  much  of  its 
history  is  still,  to  a  great  extent,  matter  of  conjecture. 

§   2.  Description  of  Bible  of   1535.— In  size 

Coverdale's  Bible  was  a  small  folio,  printed,  probably 
at  Zurich,  in  angular  black  type,  fifty-seven  lines  going 
to  each  page.      The  original  title  ran  as  follows  : — 

"Biblia,  The  Bible:  that  is,  the  Holy  Scripture 
of  the  Olde  and  New  Testament,  faithfully  and  truly 
translated  out  of  Douche  and  Latyn  into  Enghshe, 

MDXXXV." 

The  English  printer,  however,  into  whose  hands  the 
sheets  had  passed,  for  some  reason  substituted  a  new 
title-page  of  his  own  in  which  all  reference  to  "  Douche 
and  Latyn"  was  omitted.  He  also  added  several 
extra  pages  of  preliminary  matter,  including  a  Dedication 
to  the  King,  couched,  according  to  the  custom  of  the 
times,  in  terms  of  most  fulsome  flattery,  and  a  Prologue 
to  the  Christian  Reader.  Both  Dedication  and  Prologue 
were  signed  by  Coverdale. 

The  body  of  the  book  was  divided  into  six  parts. 
I.    Genesis    to    Deuteronomy.       2.    Joshua    to    Esther. 

3.  Job  to   Solomon's   Ballads   (the  Song   of  Solomon). 

4.  Isaiah  to  Malachi  including  the  apocryphal  book  of 
Baruch.       5.    The   Apocrypha    omitting    the    Prayer   of 


MILES  CO  VERB  ALE  51 

Manasseh.  6.  The  New  Testament.  Each  book  was 
accompanied  by  a  summary  of  its  contents  arranged 
according  to  chapters,^  while  a  short  Preface  was 
attached  to  the  Apocrypha,  in  which  the  following 
noteworthy  words  occur  :  "  But  whosoever  thou  be 
that  readest  Scripture,  let  the  Holy  Ghost  be  thy 
teacher,  and  let  one  text  expound  another  unto  thee. 
As  for  such  dreams,  visions,  and  dark  sentences  as  be 
hid  from  thy  understanding,  commit  them  unto  God, 
and  make  no  articles  of  them  ;  but  let  the  plain  text  be 
thy  guide,  and  the  Spirit  of  God  (which  is  the  author 
thereof)  shall  lead  thee  in  all  truth." 

§  3-  Coverdale  as  a  Translator.— When  we 

pass  to  the  internal  character  of  the  version,  the  fii'st 
point  that  meets  us  is  the  position  of  Coverdale  as  a 
translator.  Did  he,  like  Tindale,  as  is  sometimes 
asserted,  go  direct  to  the  original  texts,  or  was  his  work 
founded  on  the  translations  of  others  ?  His  own  words 
leave  no  doubt  as  to  the  answer.  For  not  only  have  we 
his  statement  on  the  original  title-page  that  he  translated 
"out  of  Douche  [German]  and  Latyn "  ;  but  in  his 
Dedication  to  the  King  he  speaks  of  having  "with  a 
clear  conscience  purely  and  faithfully  translated  this  out 
of  five  sundry  interpreters  " — now  generally  identified 
with  Luther,  the  Zurich  Bible,  the  Vulgate,  a  Latin 
version  by  Pagninus,  and  in  all  probability  Tindale. 
It  would  lie  altogether  beyond  our  present  purpose  to 
attempt  to  indicate  Coverdale's  special  obligation  to  each 
of  these.  But  he  himself  has  thrown  an  interesting  side- 
light on  his  relative  dependence  which  deserves  notice. 
In  his  Prologue  to  the  Christian  Reader,  after  referring 
to  the  Latin  translations  from  which  he  had  received 
help,  he  goes  on  to  speak  of  "the  Dutch  interpreters, 

1  The  summary  for  example  of  Matt.  v.  ran  :  "  In  this  chapter 
and  in  the  two  next  following  is  contained  the  most  excellent  and 
loving  Sermon  of  Christ  on  the  Mount :  Which  sermon  is  the  very 
key  that  openeth  the  understanding  into  the  law.  In  this  fifth 
chapter  specially  He  preacheth  of  the  viii.  beatitudes  or  blessings, 
of  manslaughter,  wrath  and  anger :  of  adultery,  of  swearing,  of 
suffering  wrong,  and  of  love  even  towards  a  man's  enemies." 


52  THE  ENGLISH  BIBLE 

whom  (because  of  their  singular  gifts  and  special  diligence 
in  the  Bible)  I  have  been  the  more  glad  to  follow  for  the 
most  part ^  according  as  I  was  required."  The  German 
translations  of  Luther  and  the  Zurich  Bible  may  thus, 
according  to  his  own  admission,  be  taken  as  the  basis 
of  Coverdale's  work — a  conclusion  which  the  independent 
examination  of  his  text  amply  supports.  To  show  this 
in  any  detail  could  hardly  be  of  interest  to  the  ordinary 
reader  ;  but  we  may  cite  one  or  two  short  passages, 
which  will  at  least  give  a  general  idea  of  the  character  of 
Coverdale's  translation. 

§  4-   Specimens    of    Translation.— We   begin 

with  one,  of  which  Tindale's  rendering  has  already  been 
given  on  p.  34,  marking  the  principal  differences  from 
it  by  means  of  italics. 

DeUT.  vi.  4-9  (COVERDALE,  1 535) 
Hear,  O  Israel,  the  Lord  our  God  is  one  Lord  only. 
And  thou  shalt  love  the  Lord  thy  God  with  all  thy 
heart,  with  all  thy  soul,  and  with  all  thy  might.  And 
these  words,  which  I  command  thee  this  day,  shalt 
thou  take  to  heart,  and  shalt  whet  them  upon  thy 
children,  and  shalt  talk  of  them,  when  thou  sittest  in 
thine  house,  and  when  thou  walkest  by  the  way  : 
when  thou  liest  down,  and  when  thou  risest  up.  And 
thou  shalt  bind  them  for  a  sign  upon  thine  hand,  and 
they  shall  be  a  token  of  remembrance  befoj-e  thine 
eyes,  and  thou  shalt  write  them  upon  the  posts  of 
thine  house,  and  upon  thy  gates. 
Our  second  passage  is  chosen  simply  for  its  famili- 
arity. The  italics  again  indicate  the  principal  variations 
from  Tindale  (New  Testament,  1534). 

Matt.  xiii.  3-8  (Coverdale,  1535) 
And   He  spake  many  things  tmto  them  in  simili- 
tudes, saying  :  Behold,  The  sower  went  forth  to  sow  : 
and  as  he  sowed,  some  fell  by  the  wayside  :    Theti 
came  the  fowls,  and  ate  it  up.      Some  fell  upon  stony 
1  The  italics  are  ours. 


MILES  COVERDALE  53 

ground,  and  anon  it  sprung  up,  because  it  had  no 
depth  of  earth  :  But  when  the  Sun  arose,  it  caught 
heat  :  andy^r  so  much  as  it  had  no  root,  it  withered 
away.  Some  fell  among  the  thorns,  and  the  thorns 
grew  up,  and  choked  it.  Some  fell  upon  good  ground, 
and  gave  fruit :  some  an  hundred-fold,  some  sixty- 
fold,  some  thirty-fold. 

In  both  these  passages,  it  will  be  noticed,  the  varia- 
tions from  Tindale  are  fairly  numerous,  on  an  average 
about  two  variations  a  verse,  while,  in  support  of  what 
has  already  been  stated,  it  is  important  to  notice  that  in 
almost  every  one  of  these  Coverdale  is  found  to  be  in 
agreement  with  Luther.  Such  a  rendering,  however,  as 
"  gave  "  in  the  last  verse  is  due,  not  to  the  German,  but 
the  Latin.  It  is  necessary  to  add  that  other  passages 
would  bring  out  a  much  closer  relation  to  Tindale  than  is 
here  indicated.  ^ 

For  our  third  and  last  specimen  of  Coverdale's  transla- 
tion we  may  turn  to  the  Prophetical  Books,  in  which  he 
had  not  the  benefit  of  Tindale's  guidance.  The  influence 
of  the  German  translators,  more  particularly  of  the 
Zurich  Bible,  is  again  unmistakable. 

Isaiah  liii.  1-5  (Coverdale,  1535) 

But  who  giveth  credence  unto  our  preaching  ?  Or 
to  whom  is  the  arm  of  the  Lord  known  ?  He  shall 
grow  before  the  Lord  like  as  a  branch,  and  as  a  root 
in  a  dry  ground.  He  shall  have  neither  beauty  nor 
favour.  When  we  look  upon  Him,  there  shall  be  no 
fairness  :  we  shall  have  no  lust  unto  Him.  He  shall 
be  the  most  simple  and  despised  of  all,  which  yet 
hath  good  experience  of  sorrows  and  infirmities.  We 
shall  reckon  Him  so  simple  and  so  vile,  that  we  shall 
hide  our  faces  from  Him.  Howbeit  (of  a  truth)  He 
only  taketh  away  our  infirmity,  and  beareth  our  pain  : 

1  Thus  in  the  Epistle  of  St.  James  containing  108  verses,  Dr. 
Moulton,  to  whom  belongs  the  honour  of  being  the  first  to  point 
out  this  var^'ing  relation  between  the  two  versions,  finds  that  the 
difference  amounts  to  three  words  only  {^History,  p.  m). 


54  THE  ENGLISH  BIBLE 

Yet  we  shall  judge  Him,  as  though  He  were  plagued 
and  cast  down  of  God  :  whereas  He  (notwithstanding) 
shall  be  wounded  for  our  offences,  and  smitten  for  our 
wickedness.  For  the  pain  of  our  punishment  shall  be 
laid  upon  Him,  and  with  His  stripes  shall  we  be  healed. 

Many  other  interesting  particulars  regarding  Cover- 
dale's  translation  might  be  brought  forward  if  space  per- 
mitted, but  enough  has  been  said  to  show  that,  while 
not  an  independent  translator,  he  was  certainly  not  a 
mere  "proof  reader  or  corrector"  of  the  first  English 
Bible.  His  relation,  we  have  seen,  was  on  the  whole 
distinctly  closer  to  the  German  versions  than  to  Tindale  ; 
but  it  is  obvious  that  he  made  careful  and  discriminating 
use  of  the  different  aids  within  his  reach,  and  that  his 
work,  if  only  for  the  happy  turn  which  he  gives  to  many 
phrases  and  sentences,  and  which  is  often  so  slight  as  at 
first  sight  to  be  hardly  noticeable,  possesses  undoubted 
original  value.  "The  gentle  flow  of  its  English,"  says 
Dr.  Eadie,  "is  idiomatic  and  fresh,  though  many  words 
and  phrases  are  now  antiquated,  ^  and  it  may  still  be  read 
with  pleasure  in  the  Psalms  of  the  English  Book  of 
Common  Prayer,  of  which  it  is  the  basis.  .  .  .  No  little 
of  that  indefinable  quality  that  gives  popular  charm  to 
our  English  Bible,  and  has  endeared  it  to  so  many 
generations,  is  owing  to  Coverdale.  .  .  .  Tyndale  gave 
us  the  first  great  outline  distinctly  and  wonderfully 
etched,  but  Coverdale  added  those  minuter  touches  which 
soften  and  harmonize  it." 

§  5.  New  Editions. — Special  mention  is  here  made 
of  Coverdale's  Psalter,  but  it  may  be  well  to  delay 
consideration  of  it,  until  we  meet  it  in  its  revised  form 
in  the  Great  Bible,  and  in  the  meantime  to  notice  one 
or  two  new  editions  of  his  Bible  as  a  whole.      Thus  in 

1  From  one  of  these,  "  There  is  no  more  Triacle  at  Galaad  "  (Jer. 
viii.  22)  Coverdale's  translation  is  sometimes  called  "The  Treacle 
Bible."  Other  examples  are  :  "  Bare  it  in  hir  nebb  "  (Gen.  viii.  11)  ; 
"  Brake  his  brane  panne"  (Judg.  ix.  53) ;  "  The  foolish  bodyes  saye 
in  their  hertes  :  Tush,  there  is  no  God  "  (Psa.  xiv.  i) ;  "  Because  their 
wyddowes  were  not  loked  vpon  in  the  daylie  handreachinge  "  (Acts 
vi.  1). 


MILES  CO  VERB  ALE  55 

1537  a  second  edition  appeared,  "  imprynted  in  Sowth- 
warke  for  James  Nycolson,"  and  claiming  to  have  been 
"newly  ouersene  and  corrected."  The  variations  are 
said  to  be  slight  and  unimportant,  and  the  chief  interest 
of  the  edition  for  us  lies  in  the  fact  that  it  was  the  first 
complete  Bible  printed  in  England.  It  contained  the 
same  Dedication  to  Henry  VIII.  as  its  predecessor  had 
done,  but  "  Quene  Jane"  now  takes  the  place  of  the 
"dearest  just  wyfe  and  most  vertuous  Pryncesse  Queen 
Anne."  In  the  same  year  Nycolson  issued  a  quarto 
edition,  which  bore  on  its  title-page  the  significant 
words,  now  introduced  for  the  first  time,  "  Set  forth 
with  the  Kynges  most  gracious  licence." 

The  following  year,  1538,  found  Coverdale  engaged 
in  biblical  work  in  Paris,  and  the  fruit  was  seen  in  a 
Latin-English  Testament,  of  which  in  the  one  year  three 
editions  were  called  for.  A  copy  of  this  Testament, 
preserved  in  the  British  Museum,  is  of  interest  as  having 
been  the  property  of  Queen  Elizabeth.  It  contains  the 
following  entry  in  the  Queen's  own  hand: — 

"  Amonge  good  thinges 
I  prove  and  finde,  the  quiet 
life  doth  muche  abounde, 
and  sure  to  the  contentid 
mynde,  ther  is  no  riches 
may  be  founde. 

Your  lovinge 
maistres 

Elizabeth."! 

§  6.  Closing  Years  and  Death.— We  shall  return 

to  Coverdale  again  as  a  translator  in  connection  with  the 
story  of  the  Great  Bible,  but  may  briefly  summarise  here 
the  closing  incidents  of  his  life.  He  was  in  England 
apparently  in  1539,  but,  after  the  death  of  Cromwell 
on  the  scaffold  in  July  1540,  returned  to  Germany, 
living  first  at  TUbingen  and  afterwards  at  Bergzabern, 
where  he  is  spoken  of  as  "  of  very  great  service  in  pro- 

1  Dore,  Old  Bibles,  pp.  95-6. 


56  THE  ENGLISH  BIBLE 

noting  the  Scriptural  benefit  of  those  persons  in  the  lower 
ranks  of  life  who  are  anxious  for  the  truth,  and  inflamed 
with  zeal  and  desire  of  obeying  the  will  of  God."  i 

In  1548  he  came  back  to  England,  and  three  years 
later  was  made  Bishop  of  Exeter  during  Edward  VI. 's 
reign  ;  but  on  Mary's  accession  was  deprived  of  his  see. 
He  had  again  to  go  into  exile,  visiting  among  other  places 
Geneva.  After  his  return  he  held  the  living  of  St. 
Magnus  the  Martyr  in  London ;  but  lost  this  in  the 
beginning  of  Elizabeth's  reign,  apparently  because  he 
would  not  obey  the  Act  of  Uniformity.  He  still  preached 
however  occasionally,  and  evidently  with  great  accept- 
ance, for,  according  to  the  chronicler,  "many  people 
ran  after  Father  Coverdale,"  coming  even  "  to  his  house 
to  ask  where  he  would  preach  the  next  Lord's  Day," 
when  he  tried  to  keep  it  secret.  He  died  in  February 
1569  at  the  age  of  eighty-one  years. 

Coverdale's  character  differed  in  many  respects  from 
that  of  his  great  predecessor  Tindale.  He  had  not  the 
latter's  sturdy  independence,  nor  was  the  work  of  trans- 
lation with  him,  as  with  Tindale,  a  consuming  passion 
that  had  to  be  obeyed.  On  the  contrary,  as  he  tells  us 
himself  in  his  Prologue,  "it  was  neither  my  labour  nor 
desire,  to  have  this  work  put  in  my  hand,"  but  "when 
I  was  instantly  required,  though  I  could  not  do  so  well 
as  I  would,  1  thought  it  yet  my  duty  to  do  my  best, 
and  that  with  a  good  will." 

He  has  been  described  as  "an  honest  and  well-mean- 
ing, but  a  very  ordinary  plodding  sort  of  man,  like  whom 
there  can  be  ten  thousand  found  any  day  in  London, 
with  no  remarkable  ability  for  either  good  or  evil." 
"  But,"  as  Dr.  Eadie,  who  quotes  this  testimony,  remarks, 
"  whatever  his  ability,  Coverdale  did  his  own  work  when 
none  of  the  '  ten  thousand '  thought  of  attempting  it ; 
and  though  his  talent  was  certainly  not  transcendent,  it 
qualified  him  to  be  the  first  to  give  a  whole  Bible  to  the 
English  people,  and  to  edit  the  Great  Bible,  which  for 
so  many  years  occupied  a  high  place." 

1  Quoted  in  Mombert,  English  Versions  of  the  Bible,  p.  160. 


MATTHEW  S  AND  TAVERN ER  S  BIBLES  57 


CHAPTER  Vm 

Matthew's  bible — taverner's  bible 

I.  "John  Rogers  alias  Matthew."  2.  Matthew's  Bible. 
3.  Notes  and  Concordance.  4.  The  first  Authorised 
Version.  5.  Martyrdom  of  Rogers.  6.  Taverner's 
Bible. 

The  English  people  had  waited  long  before  a  complete 
copy  of  the  Scriptures  in  English  was  placed  in  their 
hands  ;  but  now,  thanks  to  the  noble  example  of  Tin- 
dale  and  Coverdale,  translation  was  to  follow  translation 
in  rapid  succession.  It  may  not  be  out  of  place  there- 
fore to  refer  here  to  some  words  of  the  latter  on  the  ad- 
vantage of  many  versions.  "  Divers  translations,"  so  he 
writes,  "understand  one  another  and  that  in  the  head 
articles  and  ground  of  our  most  blessed  faith,  though  they 
use  sundry  words.  Therefore  methink  we  have  great 
occasion  to  give  thanks  imto  God,  that  He  hath  opened 
unto  His  church  the  gift  of  interpretation  and  of  printing, 
and  that  there  are  now  at  this  time  so  many  which  with 
such  diligence  and  faithfulness  interpret  the  Scripture  to 
the  honour  of  God  and  edifying  of  His  people."  And 
then  after  referring  to  his  own  translation  he  continues  : 
"If  thou  (reader)  hast  knowledge  therefore  to  judge 
where  any  fault  is  made,  I  doubt  not  but  thou  wilt  help 
to  amend  it,  if  love  be  joined  with  thy  knowledge.  How- 
beit  whereinsoever  I  can  perceive  by  myself  or  by  the 
information  of  other  that  I  have  failed  (as  it  is  no  wonder) 
I  shall  now  by  the  help  of  God  overlook  it  better  and 
amend  it." 

We  have  seen  already  something  of  Coverdale's  own 


58  THE  ENGLISH  BIBLE 

efforts  in  the  work  of  revision.     Another  worker  in  the 
same  field  now  appears. 

§  I.  "John  Rogers  alias  Matthew."    in  1537, 

the  very  year  of  Coverdale's  own  second  edition,  a  Bible 
was  issued  with  the  title  : — 

"  The  Byble,  which  is  all  the  holy  Scripture  :  In 
whych  are  contained  the  Olde  and  Newe  Testament 
truly  and  purely  translated  into  Englysh  by  Thomas 
Matthew." 

This  is  followed  by  a  verse  from  Isaiah  i.  :  "  Hearcken 
to  ye  heauens  and  thou  earth  geaue  eare  :  for  the  Lorde 
speaketh,"  and  the  note,  "M,D,xxxvii,  Set  forth  with 
the  Kinges  most  gracyous  lycece."  The  place  of 
printing  is  not  mentioned,  though  it  is  now  believed  to 
have  been  Antwerp,  and  the  whole  question  of  author- 
ship is  still  to  a  certain  extent  uncertain.  For  while 
the  Dedication  to  Henry  VIII.  again  bears  the  signature 
of  Thomas  Matthew,  this  is  followed  by  a  brief  "  Ex- 
hortacyon  to  the  studye  of  the  holy  Scripture,"  signed 
with  the  initials  I.  R.,  generally  supposed  to  stand  for 
John  Rogers,  the  proto-martyr  in  the  Marian  persecutions. 
Opinions  differ  as  to  whether  in  Matthew  and  Rogers 
we  are  to  see  one  person  or  two  ;  but  on  the  whole,  in 
our  otherwise  complete  ignorance  regarding  Matthew, 
and  looking  to  the  fact  that  in  the  official  sentence  pro- 
nounced against  him,  Rogers  is  distinctly  referred  to  as 
"John  Rogers,  otherwise  called  Matthew,"  we  are  war- 
ranted in  concluding  that  we  have  here  two  different 
designations  of  the  same  person.  The  alias  may,  as  Foxe 
suggests,  have  been  adopted  by  Rogers  for  prudential 
motives  to  hide  his  connection  with  Tindale. 

§  2.  Matthew's  Bible. — The  circumstances  attend- 
ing this  connection  we  owe  to  the  same  authority.  Rogers, 
so  Foxe  tells  us,  who  had  been  educated  at  Cambridge, 
where  "he  was  profitably  exercised  in  learning,"  after 
filling  various  posts  in  this  country,  was  in  15  34 
appointed  Chaplain  to  the  Merchant  Adventurers  at 
Antwerp.      Both   Tindale   and   Coverdale   happened   to 


Matthew's  and  taverner's  bibles  59 

be  there  at  the  same  time,  and  "in  conferring  with  them 
on  the  Scriptures,  he  came  to  a  great  knowledge  in  the 
gospel  of  God  .  .  .  and  joined  himself  with  them  in 
that  painful  [difficult]  and  most  profitable  labour  of 
translating  the  Bible  into  the  English  tongue."  If 
we  are  to  take  these  words  literally,  we  must  think  of 
the  three  men  as  all  engaged  together  in  the  one  work 
of  translation  and  revision,  the  results  of  which  Rogers 
afterwards  gave  to  the  world.  But  possibly  Foxe's 
words  are  not  more  than  a  loose  way  of  indicating  the 
extent  to  which  Rogers  availed  himself  of  the  labours  of 
his  two  predecessors.  For  the  slightest  examination  of 
his  version  proves  that  in  the  Pentateuch  he  has  almost 
literally  followed  Tindale's  published  translation,  and  in 
the  New  Testament  the  same  writer's  Testament  of  1535  ; 
while  the  Old  Testament  books  from  Ezra  to  Malachi 
are  equally  closely  taken  from  Coverdale. 

There  remains  only  the  section  from  Joshua  to 
Chronicles,  which  is  evidently  not  Coverdale's,  and  the 
question  may  be  asked.  Have  we  here  then  Rogers'  own 
work,  or  can  we  again  trace  the  hand  of  Tindale?  The 
latter  alternative  is  now  generally  accepted.  It  will  be 
remembered  that  when  Tindale  was  in  prison  he  made 
a  special  request  for  his  Hebrew  Bible  and  Dictionary 
for  the  purpose,  there  is  good  reason  to  believe,  of 
completing  his  translation  of  the  Old  Testament.  He 
was  not  able  to  accomplish  that ;  but  the  coincidences  in 
matter  and  manner  of  translation  between  this  section  of 
Matthew's  Bible  and  Tindale's  Pentateuch  are  such  as 
to  render  it  more  than  probable  that  we  have  here 
Tindale's  unfinished  work.  What  more  natural  than 
that  the  translator,  seeing  his  own  death  approaching, 
should  have  handed  over  all  he  had  been  able  to 
accomplish  to  his  friend  Rogers  to  make  what  use  of 
it  he  could  ?  We  may  thus  accept  almost  literally  the 
statement  quoted  by  Lewis  regarding  this  edition  that 
"  to  the  end  of  the  Book  of  Chronicles  it  is  Tyndal's 
translation,  and  from  thence  to  the  end  of  the  Apocrypha, 
Coverdale's,    and    that    the    whole    New   Testament    is 


6o  THE  ENGLISH  BIBLE 

Tyndal's."!  Or,  roughly  speaking,  two -thirds  of 
Matthew's  Bible  are  Tindale's,  and  one-third  Cover- 
dale's. 

It  is  right,  however,  to  add  that  if  Rogers  is  thus 
reduced  to  the  position  simply  of  an  editor,  he  did  his 
work  carefully  and  well.  Thus  in  the  Psalter  he  introduced 
various  readings  in  the  margin,  besides  accommodating 
the  numbering  of  the  Psalms  to  the  Hebrew  division. 
In  Psalm  xiv.  he  omitted  certain  spurious  verses 
introduced  by  Coverdale,  and  in  Psalm  cxix.  headed 
the  different  sections  by  the  letters  of  the  Hebrew 
alphabet ;  while  his  scholarship  was  further  proved  by 
the  explanation  of  various  technical  terms.  This,  for 
example,  is  what  he  has  to  say  regarding  the  word  Selah 
which  so  often  puzzles  readers  of  the  Psalms:  "This 
word,  after  Rabbi  Kimchi,  was  a  sign  or  token  of  lifting 
up  the  voice,  and  also  a  monition  and  advertisement  to 
enforce  the  thought  and  mind  earnestly  to  give  heed  to 
the  meaning  of  the  verse  unto  which  it  is  added.  Some 
will  that  it  signify  perpetually  or  verily." 

§  3.  Notes  and  Concordance. — It  is  in  his  Notes 

indeed  that  the  most  characteristic  feature  of  Rogers' 
work  is  found.  They  are  very  numerous,  and  of  all 
kinds,  as  the  following  notes  on  Deut.  i.  will  show. 

Deut.  i.  6,  "  Horeb  and  Sinai  are  both  one." 

Deut.  i.  21  {''Before  7^^^^").— "  That  is,  at  Thy 
Commandment." 

Deut.  i.  26  {'•'■  Btit  were  disobedient").  —  "The 
people,  being  unfaithful,  would  not  go  unto  the 
land  promised." 

Deut.  i.  27  {''■  Hateth  us"). — "God  is  said  to  hate 
a  man  when  He  putteth  him  forth  of  His  heart,  and 
giveth  him  not  of  His  grace.  Psal.  v.  b  and  xxx. 
b." 

Deut.  i.  43  ("K?  would  not  hear  ").  — "  Here  thou 

1  History  of  the  English  Translations  of  the  Bible,  p.  107.  The 
one  exception  is  the  Prayer  of  JManasseh  in  the  Apocrj^pha  which 
Coverdale  had  not  translated,  and  which  may  therefore  be  set  down 
to  Rogers  himself. 


MATTHE  W  S  AND  TA  VERNER  S  BIBLES  6i 

seest  the  very  image  of  us  that  live  in  this  most  peril- 
ous time,  for  even  we  likewise,  where  God's  word  is, 
there  believe  we  not ;  and  where  it  is  not,  there  be 
we  bold." 

Or  to  select  one  or  two  examples  from  the  New 
Testament. 

Matt.i.  i8  ("  C/^rzV/").  — "In  Hebr.  Messiah:  It 
signifieth  anointed.  Jesus  Christ,  then,  is  the  earnest 
and  pledge  of  God's  promise,  by  whom  the  grace  and 
favour  of  God  is  promised  to  us  with  the  Holy 
Ghost,  which  illumineth,  lighteth,  reneweth  our 
hearts  to  fulfil  the  law." 

Johnv.  2  {^''  Slatig/ifer  koicse ''''). — "The  Greek  hath 
sheep  house,  a  place  where  they  killed  the  beasts  that 
were  offered." 

Jas.  ii.  24  {^'- Justified''^). — "You  see  then  that 
of  deeds  a  man  is  justified,  that  is,  is  declared  just, 
is  openly  known  to  be  righteous,  like  as  by  the  fruits 
the  good  tree  is  known  for  good.  Otherwise  may  not 
this  sentence  be  interpreted.   .   .   ." 

Rogers'  Protestantism  is  still  more  clearly  seen  in 
other  places,  as  when  he  declares  that  reward.  Matt.  v. 
12,  "is  given  to  men  for  their  work,  but  it  is  not  due  to 
the  work,"  or  describes  faith,  Matt.  ix.  2,  as  "  the 
righteousness  of  a  Christian  man,  which  setteth  at  peace 
the  conscience,  and  receiveth  the  heritage  everlasting. "  1 

Along  with  his  notes,  Rogers  adds  to  the  usefulness 
of  his  work  by  generally  prefixing  a  heading  to  each 
chapter.  The  Apocryphal  books  are  introduced  by  a 
Preface  translated  from  Olivetan's  French  Bible  ;  and  in 
the  New  Testament  Tindale's  Prologue  to  the  Epistle  to 
the  Romans  is  reprinted.  Amongst  the  preliminary 
matter  there  is  also,  again  from  Olivetan,  a  "Table  of 

1  An  interestmg  proof  of  the  animosity  which  such-like  annota- 
tions aroused  in  the  papal  party  is  afforded  by  a  copy  of  Rogers' 
original  edition  preserved  in  the  library  of  the  British  and  Foreign 
Bible  Society.  For  not  only  is  the  sacred  volume  itself  in  a  sadly 
torn  and  mutilated  condition,  but  the  objectionable  notes  have  as 
far  as  possible  been  effaced  by  a  strong  red  pigment. 


62  THE  ENGLISH  BIBLE 

the  principal  matters  contained  in  the  Bible."  For  ex- 
ample, under  the  word  "Advocate  "  the  remark  is  made  : 
"  Note  that  I  find  not  in  all  the  Bible  this  word  advocate, 
but  only  in  i  John  ii.  a,  in  the  which  place  is  said  that 
Christ  is  our  advocate  toward  the  Father."  The  Table 
thus  formed  a  kind  of  Concordance,  and  in  any  case  it  is 
interesting  to  know  that  from  the  study  of  Matthew's 
Bible  the  first  English  Concordance  sprang. 

It  was  the  work  of  Marbeck,  one  of  the  organists  of 
St.  George's,  Windsor.  Too  poor  to  buy  a  copy  of  the 
new  version  for  himself,  he  borrowed  one  from  amongst 
his  friends,  and  began  to  copy  it  out  "on  fair  great 
paper."  He  had  got  as  far  as  the  beginning  of  Joshua 
when,  according  to  his  own  account,  "  my  friend.  Master 
Turner,  chanced  to  steal  upon  me  unawares,  and  seeing 
me  writing  out  the  Bible,  asked  me  what  I  meant 
thereby.  And  when  I  told  him  the  cause  :  '  Tush ! ' 
said  he,  'thou  goest  about  a  vain  and  tedious  labour. 
But  this  were  a  profitable  work  for  thee,  to  set  out  a 
Concordance  in  English.'  'A  Concordance,'  said  I, 
'  what  is  that  ? '  Then  he  told  me  it  was  a  book  to  find 
out  any  word  in  the  whole  Bible  by  the  letter,  and 
that  there  was  such  an  one  in  Latin  already."  Marbeck 
accordingly  borrowed  a  Latin  Concordance  and  set  to 
work,  and,  though  he  narrowly  escaped  martyrdom  for 
his  pains,  he  was  able  to  bring  out  the  completed  work 
in  1550  with  the  title:  "A  Concordance,  that  is  to  sale, 
a  Worke  wherein,  by  the  ordre  of  the  letters  A,  B,  C, 
ye  male  redely  find  any  word  conteigned  in  the  whole 
Bible,  so  often  as  it  is  there  expressed  or  mentioned." 

§  4-  The  first  Authorised  Version.— Apart  from 

other  interesting  associations,  Matthew's  Bible  has  one 
special  claim  upon  our  attention.  On  its  title-page,  it 
will  be  remembered,  it  bore  the  words,  "  Set  forth  with 
the  Kinges  most  gracyous  lycece,"  and  may  thus  be  re- 
garded as  the  first  authorised  version  of  the  sacred 
Scriptures.!     This  came  about  as  follows.      No  sooner 

1  In  this  same  year  of  1537  the  royal  license  was  obtained  for  the 
second  edition  of  Coverdale's  Bible.     See  above,  p.  55. 


MATTHEW  S  AND  TAVERNER  S  BIBLES  63 

had  it  been  published  than  Cranmer  forwarded  a  copy  to 
Cromwell  with  a  letter  in  which  he  spoke  of  the  book  as 
"very  well  done,"  and  that  as  far  as  the  translation  went 
he  liked  it  "better  than  any  other  translation  heretofore 
made."  He  then  urged  Cromwell  to  show  the  book  to 
the  King  and  obtain  from  him  a  "license  that  the  same 
may  be  sold  and  read  of  every  person,  without  danger  of 
any  act,  proclamation,  or  ordinance  heretofore  granted 
to  the  contrary,  until  such  time  that  we,  the  Bishops, 
shall  set  forth  a  better  translation — which  I  think  will 
not  be  till  a  day  after  Doomsday,"  That  Henry  should 
grant  this  request  was  almost  more  than  Cranmer  could 
have  dared  to  hope  ;  for  the  King  could  not  but  know  X^ 
that  a  large  part  of  the  Bible  was  that  very  version 
of  Tindale's  he  had  already  condemned  more  than 
once.  But,  whatever  the  reason,  Henry  yielded,  and  so 
it  came  about  that  "by  Cranmer's  petition,  by  Crumwell's 
influence,  and  by  Henry's  authority,  without  any  formal 
ecclesiastical  decision,  the  book  was  given  to  the  English 
people,  which  is  the  foundation  of  the  text  of  our  present 
Bible.  From  Matthew's  Bible — itself  a  combination  of 
the  labours  of  Tyndale  and  Coverdale — all  later  revisions 
have  been  successively  formed.  "^  We  shall  see  this 
more  clearly  in  the  pages  that  follow.  In  the  meantime 
we  have  to  notice  the  fate  of  the  man  by  whom  the 
Bible  was  produced. 

§  5-  Martyrdom  of  Rogers. — In  the  troublous 

times  of  Queen  Mary's  reign,  so  prominent  a  Protestant 
leader  as  Rogers  could  hardly  expect  to  escape,  and 
accordingly  in  August  1553  he  was  ordered  by  the 
Council  to  remain  in  his  own  house  as  a  prisoner. 
Later,  through  the  intervention^  of  Bonner,  he  was  re- 
moved to  Newgate,  where  he  was  detained  among  thieves 
and  murderers  for  nearly  eighteen  months,  when  he  was 
brought  up  for  examination  before  Lord  Chancellor 
Gardiner.  No  direct  mention  of  his  publication  of  the 
Scriptures  seems  to  have  occurred  in  the  charge  against 
him ;  but  the  care  with  which  Gardiner  in  passing 
1  Westcott,  History,  p.  73. 


64  THE  ENGLISH  BIBLE 

sentence  no  less  than  three  times  named  "  Rogers  other- 
wise called  Matthew  "  may  have  been  intended  to  point 
to  the  version  called  by  his  name.  In  any  case  his 
doom  was  fixed.  On  the  morning  of  Monday  4th 
February  1555  he  was  suddenly  awakened  and  told  to 
prepare  himself  for  the  fire.  He  received  the  news 
with  perfect  calmness,  and,  after  being  "degraded"  by 
Bonner,  proceeded  towards  Smithfield,  repeating  the  51st 
Psalm  by  the  way,  "all  the  people  wonderfully  rejoicing 
at  his  constancy,  with  great  praises  and  thanks  to  God 
for  it."  His  last  words,  as  the  flames  enveloped  him, 
were,  "  Lord,  receive  my  spirit. "  "  He  was,"  says  Foxe, 
"  the  first  martyr  of  all  the  blessed  company  that  suffered 
in  Queen  Mary's  time  at  the  fire  "  and  "  constantly  and 
cheerfully  took  his  death  with  wonderful  patience  in  the 
defence  of  Christ's  gospel." 

§  6.  Taverner'S  Bible. — Before  parting  from 
Rogers  it  may  be  well  to  notice  here  another  Bible, 
which  was  closely  connected  with  his  version.  It  was 
the  work  of  one  Richard  Taverner,  and  bears  traces 
throughout  of  his  original  and  somewhat  quaint  per- 
sonality. In  his  early  years  Taverner  was  connected 
with  Cardinal  College,  Oxford,  and  along  with  certain 
other  young  men  was  imprisoned  in  the  College 
cellar  for  reading  Tindale's  New  Testament.  He  owed 
his  release,  it  is  said,  to  his  skill  in  music.  He  after- 
wards went  to  the  Inner  Temple  in  London,  "  where 
his  humour  was  to  quote  the  law  in  Greek  when  he 
read  anything  thereof."  In  1534  he  was  taken  into  the 
attendance  of  Cromwell,  by  whom  he  was  promoted 
a  few  years  later  to  be  Clerk  of  the  Signet  to  Henry 
VIII.  During  the  reign  of  Henry's  successor,  Taverner, 
though  a  layman,  received  a  license  to  preach,  and  a 
curious  description  has  been  preserved  of  his  appearing 
in  the  pulpit  of  St.  Mary's,  Oxford,  with  a  gold  chain 
about  his  neck,  and  a  sword  by  his  side.  His  sermon, 
if  we  may  judge  from  its  opening  words,  can  hardly 
have  tended  greatly  to  edification  :  "  Arriving  at  the 
Mount  of  St.  Maiy's,  in  the  stony  stage  where  I  now 


MA  TTHE  W  S  AND  TA  VERNE RS  BIBLES  65 

stand,  I  have  brought  you  some  fine  biscuits,  baked  in 
the  oven  of  charity,  and  carefully  conserved  for  the 
chickens  of  the  church,  the  sparrows  of  the  Spirit,  and 
the  sweet  swallows  of  salvation. " 

Taverner's  translation,  undertaken  apparently  at  the 
instigation  of  Cromwell,  was  published  in  1539,  and  bore 
to  be  "  newly  recognised  with  great  diligence  after  most 
faythful  exemplars."  The  preliminary  matter  was  practi- 
cally the  same  as  in  Matthew's  Bible,  but  there  was  a  new 
Dedication  to  the  King  in  much  better  taste.  "  This  one 
thing,"  he  says,  "  I  dare  full  well  affirm,  that  among  all 
your  Majesty's  deservings  .  .  .  your  Highness  never  did 
anything  more  acceptable  unto  God,  more  profitable  unto 
the  advancement  of  true  Christianity,  more  displeasant  to 
the  enemies  of  the  same,  and  also  to  your  Grace's  enemies, 
than  when  your  Majesty  licensed  and  willed  the  most 
sacred  Bible,  containing  the  unspotted  and  lively  word  of 
God,  to  be  in  the  English  tongue  set  forth  to  your  High- 
ness's  subjects." 

The  changes  which  Taverner  introduces  in  the  Old 
Testament,  mostly  from  the  Vulgate,  call  for  no  special 
remark  ;  others  in  the  New  Testament  are  significant,  as 
when  he  gives  its  full  force  to  the  definite  article  in  John 
i.  9,  21,  "That  was  the  true  light,"  "Art  thou  the 
prophet?"  ("  a  true  light,"  "a  prophet,"  Ti?ici.  1534). 
As  a  rule,  however,  Taverner's  corrections  are  due  not  so 
much  to  textual  considerations,  as  to  the  desire  to  give 
more  pointed  forcible  renderings.  Thus  in  Matt.  xiii.  41 
he  substitutes  "  griefs  "  for  "  things  that  offend  "  ;  in  xxi. 
17  "lodged"  for  "had  his  abiding";  and  in  xxii.  12 
"had  never  a  word  to  say,"  for  "was  even  speechless." 
In  these  last  two  chapters  Dr.  Moulton  finds  in  all  about 
forty  variations,  of  which  one -third  are  retained  in 
the  Authorised  Version  ;  but  the  general  influence  of 
Taverner's  Bible  on  subsequent  versions  cannot  be  said 
to  have  been  great,  and  we  must  pass  on  to  the  Great 
Bible,  which  was  to  succeed  Matthew's  as  the  author- 
ised version  for  a  period  of  nearly  thirty  years. 


66  THE  ENGLISH  BIBLE 


CHAPTER  IX 

THE   GREAT   BIBLE 

I.  Origin  of  the  Great  Bible.  2.  Title  and  Title-page. 
3.  Translation  and  text.  4.  The  Psalter.  5.  New 
editions.  6.  Reception  in  England.  7.  Instances 
of  intolerance. 

§  I.  Origin  of  the  Great  Bible.— Although  Henry 

VHI.  had  permitted  both  Matthew's  and  Coverdale's 
Bibles  of  1537  to  be  set  forth  with  his  "most  gracious 
license,"  we  must  not  therefore  regard  the  King  as  an 
ardent  advocate  on  their  behalf.  Any  credit  in  this  direc- 
tion must  rather  be  given  to  his  great  minister  Thomas 
Cromwell,  who,  since  his  patronage  of  Coverdale  in  the 
early  days  of  his  career,  had  proved  himself  the  steady 
friend  of  Bible-translation.  But  with  neither  of  these  ver- 
sions was  Cromwell  yet  satisfied.  Matthew's  w^as  disfigured 
by  its  objectionable  notes  ;  while  Coverdale's  transla- 
tion had  been  proved  in  many  respects  unsatisfactory. 
Accordingly  early  in  1538  he  applied  to  Coverdale  to 
undertake  a  wholly  new  revision,  using  Matthew's  Bible 
as  his  basis.  It  says  much  for  the  nobility  of  Coverdale's 
spirit  that  he  showed  no  signs  of  resentment  at  his  own 
previous  work  being  thus  set  aside,  but  at  once  along 
wath  one  Grafton  proceeded  to  Paris,  where  it  had  been 
determined  that  the  new  edition  should  be  brought  out. 
By  means  of  a  letter  from  Henry,  a  special  license  for 
the  printing  was  obtained  from  the  King  of  France,  and 
on  23rd  June  1538  the  two  editors  were  able  to  write  to 
Cromwell  :  "  We  be  entered  into  your  work  of  the  Bible, 
whereof  (according  to  our  most  bounden  duty)  we  have 


THE  GREAT  BIBLE  67 

here  sent  unto  your  lordship  two  ensamples,  one  in 
parchment,  wherein  we  intend  to  print  one  for  the  King's 
grace,  and  another  for  your  lordship,  and  the  second  in 
paper,  whereof  all  the  rest  shall  be  made."  From  time 
to  time  similar  notices  showing  the  progress  of  the  work 
were  sent,  and  in  view  of  the  opposition  with  which  it 
was  "daily  threatened"  notwithstanding  the  King's 
license,  care  was  taken  to  dispatch  the  sheets  as  fast 
as  possible,  when  ready,  to  England.  The  prudence  of 
this  step  was  justified,  for  just  as  the  whole  work  was 
approaching  completion  the  Inquisitor-General  stepped 
in,  forbade  the  printing,  and  seized  the  remaining  sheets. 
Coverdale  and  Grafton  escaped  to  England,  but  shortly 
afterwards,  encouraged  by  Cromwell,  made  bold  to 
return  and  convey  the  presses,  types,  and  workmen  to 
London.  And  as  "four  great  dry  vats -full"  of  the 
precious  sheets  were  also  recovered  from  a  haberdasher  to 
whom,  instead  of  being  burned,  they  had  been  sold  "to  lap 
his  caps  in,"  the  work  was  soon  finished,  and  in  April  \ 
1539  the  Bible — hereafter  to  be  known  as  the  Great  |/ 
Bible — was  issued  from  the  press.  O 

§  2.  Title  and  Title-page. — The  volume  was  a 

large  folio — hence   its  name — and  the  title  of  the  first  '^ 
edition  ran  as  follows  : — 

"  The  Byble  in  Englyshe,  that  is  to  saye  the  con- 
tent of  all  the  holy  scripture,  bothe  of  ye  olde  and 
newe  testament  truly  translated  after  the  veryte  of  the 
Hebrue  and  Greke  textes,  by  ye  dylygent  studye  of 
dyuerse  excellent  learned  men  expert  in  the  forsayde 
tonges." 

Surrounding  this  title  was  an  elaborate  and  curious 
design,  said  to  have  been  the  work  of  Holbein.  At 
the  top  of  the  page  Christ  is  depicted  in  the  clouds 
of  heaven.  His  arms  are  outstretched,  and  two  scrolls 
proceed  out  of  His  mouth.  On  one  appears  the  in- 
scription in  Latin:  "The  word  which  goeth  forth 
from  Me  shall  not  return  to  Me  empty,  but  shall 
accomplish  whatsoever  I  will  have  done."  The  other 
is  addressed  to    Henry   who   is    represented    as  kneel- 


68  THE  ENGLISH  BIBLE 

ing  bare-headed,  and  runs  :  "I  have  found  Me  a  man 
after  Mine  own  heart,  who  shall  fulfil  all  My  will." 
To  this  Henry  makes  answer  :  "  Thy  word  is  a  lantern 
unto  my  feet."  The  King,  now  seated  on  his  throne,  is 
himself  the  central  figure  in  the  next  part  of  the  page. 
He  is  engaged  in  handing  "the  Word  of  God"  to 
Cranmer  and  other  clergy  on  his  right  hand,  and  to 
Cromwell  ^  and  other  lay-peers  on  his  left.  To  the 
former  his  address  is  :  "  These  things  command  and 
teach  "  ;  to  the  latter  :  "Judge  righteously  ;  ye  shall  hear 
the  small  as  well  as  the  great."  While  a  third  scroll 
bears  the  words:  "I  make  a  decree  that  in  all  my 
Empire  and  Kingdom  men  should  tremble  and  fear 
before  the  living  God.  Dan.  vi."  Below  this  again 
Cranmer  and  Cromwell  are  distributing  the  Bible,  and  at 
the  bottom  of  the  page  a  preacher  harangues  a  crowd 
from  a  pulpit  in  the  open  air,  beginning:  "I  exhort 
therefore  that  first  of  all  supplications,  prayers,  thanks- 
givings be  made  for  all  men,  for  Kings."  At  the  mention 
of  kings  all  shout  in  Latin,  the  children  who  know  no 
Latin  in  English,  "God  save  the  King." 

From  an  historical  point  of  view,  it  will  be  seen,  this 
page  is  most  interesting.  It  represents  in  the  clearest 
manner  what  was  believed  to  be  Henry's  attitude  to  the 
new  undertaking  ;  while  the  contents  of  the  top  compart- 
ment, and  the  Latin  imprint  at  the  end  of  the  volume, 
"This  is  the  Lord's  doing,"  alike  testify  to  the  truly 
devout  and  grateful  spirit  of  its  promoters.  The  other 
preliminary  matter  calls  for  no  special  remark  ;  but  it 
may  be  noted  that,  like  Matthew's  Bible,  the  Great  Bible 
is  divided  into  five  parts,  and  that  the  fourth  part,  con- 
taining the  Apocrypha,  is  strangely  described  as  "The 
Bookes  of  Hagiographa,"  a  name  usually  applied  to  a 
wholly  different  set  of  books,  those  namely  in  the  Old 
Testament  which  are  not  comprehended  under  "  the 
Law"  or  "the  Prophets,"  such  as  Job,  the  Psalms,  etc. 

1  After  Cromwell's  fall,  the  shield  at  his  feet  on  which  his  coat  of 
arms  had  been  emblazoned  was  left  blank ;  but  the  figure  remained 
untouched. 


THE   GREAT  BIBLE  69 

§  3.  Translation  and  Text. — The  translation  of  the 
Great  Bible  was  based  on  Matthew's  Bible  of  1537  ;  but  the  ^^ 
whole  was  subjected  by  Coverdale  to  a  careful  revision, 
with  the  aid  principally  of  MUnster's  Hebrew -Latin 
version  in  the  Old  Testament,  and  of  the  Vulgate  and 
Erasmus  in  the  New.  Thus  it  is  to  MUnster's  influ- 
ence that  we  owe  such  changes  in  Psa.  xxiii.  as  "paths 
of  righteousness  "  for  "  way  of  righteousness  "  ;  "  through 
the  valley  of  the  shadow"  for  "in  the  valley  of  the 
shadow  "  ;  and  "  I  will  dwell  in  the  house  "  for  "  that  I 
may  dwell  in  the  house  "  ;  all  of  which  have  kept  their 
place  in  the  Authorised  Version.  In  the  New  Testament 
the  authority  of  Erasmus  has  clearly  made  itself  felt  in 
"born  from  above"  for  "born  anew  "  in  John  iii.  3, 
and,  unfortunately,  in  "one  fold"  for  "one  flock"  in 
John  X.  16,  as  the  following  short  extract  will  show. 
The  original  spelling  is  preserved,  and  the  differences 
from  Tindale  (1534)  indicated  by  italics. 

John  x.  14-16  (Great  Bible,  1539) 

I  am  the  good  shepeheerd  and  knowe  tny  shepe^ 
and  am  knowen  of  myne.  As  my  father  knoweth 
me,  euen  so  know  I  also  my  father.  And  I  geue  my 
lyfe  for  the  shepe  ;  and  other  shepe  I  haue,  which  are 
not  of  this  fold.  Them  also  must  I  bring,  and  they 
shall  heare  my  voyce,  and  ther  shall  be  ontfolde  and 
one  shepeherde. 

If,  however,  the  translation  of  the  Great  Bible 
presents  few  important  variations,  its  text  exhibits  one 
very  characteristic  feature.  In  preparing  the  work 
Coverdale  had  carefully  noted  such  diversities  of  readings 
as  he  came  across,  and  many  of  them,  particularly  from 
the  Vulgate,  he  afterwards  incorporated  in  the  text,  dis- 
tinguishing them,  however,  from  the  original  by  paren- 
theses and  difference  of  type.  The  following  are  ex- 
amples : — 

Josh.  ii.  II,  "As  we  heard  these  things  (we  were 
sore  afraid  and)  our  hearts  did  faint." 


X 


70  THE  ENGLISH  BIBLE 

Job  xiv.  6,  "He  may  rest  (a  little)  until  his  day 
come." 

Isaiah  xl.  i,  "Comfort  my  people  (O  ye  prophets)." 
Luke   xvii.    36    ("Two  in  the  field,  the  one  shall  be  re- 
ceived, and  the  other  forsaken  "). 

Luke  xxiv.  36,  "Peace  be  unto  you  (It  is  I,  fear 
not)." 

Gal.  V.  13,  "But  by  love  (of  the  Spirit)  serve  one 
another." 

Col.  iii.  25,  "  Neither  is  there  any  respect  of 
persons  (with  God)." 

Coverdale  had  also  intended  to  insert  "  certain  godly 
annotations"  at  the  end  to  explain  "the  dark  places  of 
the  text "  ;  but  for  want  of  sufficient  leisure  the  Bible 
had  to  be  published  without  them,  and  they  were  never 
afterwards  added. 

§  4-  The  Psalter. — Attention  has  already  been 
drawn  to  the  fact  that  the  version  of  the  Psalms  which 
appears  in  the  English  Prayer-Book  is  different  from  that 
in  our  ordinary  Bibles,  and  the  explanation,  according 
to  a  note  in  the  former,  is  that  its  Psalter  follows  "the 
Translation  of  the  great  English  Bible,  set  forth  and 
used  in  the  time  of  King  Henry  the  Eighth,  and  Edward 
the  Sixth."  As  a  matter  of  fact,  when  in  1662  the  rest 
of  the  Scriptural  passages  in  the  Prayer-Book  were 
altered  according  to  the  A.V.  it  was  found  impossible  to 
make  any  change  in  the  Psalter.  The  familiarity  that 
had  grown  up  round  a  part  of  the  Bible  so  much  in  use 
had  doubtless  much  to  do  with  this,  and  in  addition  it 
was  urged  that  its  language  was  "  more  smooth  and  fit 
for  song." 

As  to  the  melodiousness  and  rhythmical  beauty  of  the 
Great  Bible  Psalter,  there  cannot  indeed  be  two  opinions, 
as  any  one  by  means  of  the  Prayer-Book  may  easily  verify 
for  himself.  ^  Beside  its  smoothly-flowing  sentences  so 
high    an    authority   as    Dr.    Scrivener    pronounces    our 

lit  will  be  kept  in  view,  however,  that  a  number  of  slight  varia- 
tions from  the  Great  Bible  have  crept  into  the  Prayer-Book  version. 


THE  GREAT  BIBLE  71 

present  version  "prosaic"  and  "spiritless";  while  in 
its  "incomparable  tenderness  and  sweetness"  Bishop 
Westcott  claims  to  find  the  translator's  own  gentle  spirit 
reflected,  "  full  of  humility  and  love  .  .  .  and  therefore 
best  in  harmony  with  the  tenor  of  our  own  daily  lives." 
Apart,  however,  from  its  devotional  use,  the  inferiority 
of  Coverdale's  version  as  a  translation  must  at  once  be 
conceded.  For  not  only  are  its  renderings  often  inac- 
curate, but  there  is  frequently  a  redundancy  about  them 
which  deprives  them  of  much  of  their  force.  The  follow- 
ing examples  of  the  two  versions  may  be  submitted  for 
comparison  in  this  respect. 

The  Great  Bible,  1539  The  A.V.  161  i 

Psa.  xlv.  5,  "Good  luck  have  "And  in  thy  majesty  ride 

thou   with   thine   honour,  ride  on  prosperously  because  of  truth 

because  of  the  word  of  truth,  of  and  meekness  and  righteous- 

mefekness  and  righteousness."  ness." 

Psa.  Ixviii.  6,  "He  is  the  God  "God  setteth  the  solitary  in 

that  maketh  men  to  be  of  one  mind        families." 
in  a  house." 

Psa.  cxxvii.  3,  "It   is  but   lost  " /^ /j  vain  for  you  to  rise  up 

labour  that  ye  rise  up  early,  and  early,  to  sit  up  late,  to  eat  the 

take  no  rest,  but  eat  the  bread  of  bread  of  sorrows  :  for  so  He 

carefulness:    for  look  to  whom  it  giveth  His  beloved  sleep." 
pleaseth   Him,    He  giveth   it    in 
sleep." 

The  additions  to  the  text,  to  which  reference  has 
already  been  made,  are  specially  numerous  in  the  Psalms, 
and  some  of  them  are  very  interesting.  Thus  in  Psa. 
xiv.  three  whole  new  verses  are  introduced  after  what 
is  ver.  3  in  our  A.V.,  with  the  view  apparently  of 
bringing  it  into  harmony  with  the  quotation  in  Rom.  iii. 
10-18,  which  St.  Paul  has  evidently  brought  together 
from  different  sources.  In  Psa.  xxix.  after  the  opening 
words  there  is  inserted  the  clause,  "Bring  young  rams 
unto  the  Lord  "  ;  and  in  Psa.  cxxxii.  4  we  have  the  ad- 
ditional particular,  "neither  the  temples  of  my  head  to 
take  any  rest." 


7k 


72  THE  ENGLISH  BIBLE 

§  5.  New  Editions.— On  14th  November  1539 
Cromwell  received  from  the  King  a  patent  conferring 
on  him  the  sole  power  of  licensing  the  printing  and  pub- 
lication of  English  Bibles  for  the  next  five  years  ;  and 
on  the  same  day,  by  a  strange  coincidence,  he  had  a 
letter  from  Cranmer  asking  whether  the  royal  approval 
had  been  obtained  for  a  Preface  which  he,  the  Arch- 
bishop, had  written  for  a  new  edition  of  the  Great  Bible. 
Early  in  the  following  year  this  new  edition,  which  from 
the  Preface  is  often  called  Cranmer's  Bible/  was  pub- 
lished, and  to  it  the  story  told  by  FulTceTs  in  all  prob- 
ability to  be  referred.  The  Bible  had  been  committed  by 
the  King  to  "divers  bishops  of  that  time  to  peruse," 
and  on  their  being  asked  what  was  their  judgment  of  the 
translation,  they  answered  that  there  were  many  faults 
therein.  "Well,"  said  the  King,  "but  are  there  any 
heresies  maintained  thereby  ?  "'  They  replied  that  there 
were  none  that  they  could  find.  "  If  there  be  no 
heresies,"  said  the  King,  "then,  in  God's  name,  let  it 
go  abroad  among  our  people." 

Cranmer's  Pi^eface  is  a  vigorous  piece  of  writing,  in 
which  the  Archbishop  speaks  of  "the  largeness  and 
utility  of  the  Scripture,  how  it  containeth  fruitful  instruc- 
tion and  erudition  for  every  man,"  and  how  in  consequence 
"it  is  convenient  and  good  for  the  Scriptures  to  be  read 
of  all  sorts  and  kinds  of  people,  and  in  the  vulgar  tongue." 
Only,  he  continues,  let  men  see  to  it  how  they  read. 
"  Every  man  that  cometh  to  the  reading  of  This  Holy 
Book  ought  to  bring  with  him  first  and  foremost  this  fear 
of  Almighty  God  ;  and  then,  next,  a  firm  and  stable  pur- 
pose to  reform  his  own  self  according  thereunto  ;  and  so  to 
continue,  proceed,  and  prosper,  from  time  to  time ;  show- 
ing himself  to  be  a  sober  and  fruitful  hearer  and  learner." 

As  regards  text,  Cranmer's  edition  was  a  revision  of 
the  Great  Bible  of  1539,  as  it  had  been  of  Matthew's 
Bible  of  1537  ;  but  it  is  unnecessary  here  to  define  further 
the  changes  introduced  either  in  it,  or  in  the  five  sub- 

1  The  1539  edition  is  also  sometimes  called  Cranmer's  Bible,  but 
with  it  the  Archbishop  had  nothing  special  to  do. 


THE  GREA  T  BIBLE  73 

sequent  editions  which  followed  rapidly  within  the  next 
eighteen  months.  ^  It  is  more  important  for  our  present 
purpose  to  notice  what  an  impetus  must  have  been  given 
to  Bible  study  by  the  appearance  of  ihese  seven  splendid 
folios,  commended  as  they  were  by  the  King's  direct  sanc- 
tion, and  vigorously  supported  by  the  most  influential 
men  in  the  land. 

§  6.  Reception  in  England.— The  statement  just 

made  admits  of  easy  proof.  No  sooner  had  the  first 
edition  of  the  Great  Bible  been  issued  in  1539  than 
Cromwell,  as  the  King's  vicegerent,  issued  certain  in- 
junctions to  the  clergy  requiring  them  to  provide  without 
delay  "  one  boke  of  the  whole  Bible  of  the  largest  vol- 
ume in  Englyshe,"  to  be  set  up  in  the  churches,  the  cost 
to  be  divided  between  themselves  and  their  parishioners  ; 
and  enjoining  them  to  "  expresslye  provoke,  stere  [stir], 
and  exhorte  every  parsone  [person]  to  rede  the  same,  as 
that  whyche  ys  the  verye  lively  worde  of  God."  What- 
ever the  clergy  may  have  thought, 2  the  opportunity  thus 
afforded  was  gladly  taken  advantage  of  by  the  people, 
and  it  must  have  been  a  pleasing  sight  in  the  aisle  of 
some  country  church  to  see  the  little  group  gathered 
round  the  Great  Bible,  from  which  some  one  more  edu- 
cated than  the  rest  read  aloud.  Even  Bonner,  who 
under  Queen  Mary  was  to  gain  such  unenviable  notoriety 
as  a  persecutor,  actually  set  up  six  Bibles  for  the  common 
good  in  Old  St.  Paul's.  3 

1  Strange  to  say,  one  of  these  bears  to  be  "  ouersene  "  by  no  less 
a  person  than  Tindale's  untiring  foe  Cuthbert  Tunstal,  now  Bishop 
of  Durham. 

-  With  reference  to  this  or  a  similar  proclamation  in  the  pre- 
vious year,  Strype  tells  us  :  "  The  parsons,  vicars,  and  curates  did 
read  confusedly  the  Word  of  God  and  the  King's  injunction,  lately 
set  forth,  and  commanded  by  them  to  be  read  :  humming  and  hawk- 
ing thereat,  that  almost  no  man  could  understand  the  meaning  of  the 
injunction."  But  they  could  not  keep  the  people  in  ignorance. 
"Every  one  that  could,'  says  the  same  writer,  "bought  the  book, 
or  busily  read  it  ;  or  got  others  to  read  it  to  them  if  they  could  not 
themselves ;  and  divers  more  elderly  people  learned  to  read  on  pur- 
pose. And  even  little  boys  flocked  among  the  rest  to  hear  portions 
of  the  holy  Scriptures  read."  See  Historical  Account  prefixed  to 
Bagster's  Hcxapla,  p.  60. 

3  The  reading  of  one  of  these  Bibles  by  John  Porter,  "a  fresh 


74  THE  ENGLISH  BIBLE 

§  7-  Instances  of  Intolerance. — We  must  not, 

however,  imagine  that  this  open  reading  of  the  Bible  was 
everywhere  viewed  with  favour.  Thus,  as  an  instance 
of  domestic  intolerance,  Strype  relates  an  affecting  story 
of  one  William  Maiden,  of  Chelmsford,  a  lad  of  fifteen, 
who  was  accustomed  to  join  a  few  poor  men  in  the  read- 
ing of  the  New  Testament  "at  the  lower  end  of  the 
church  "  on  Sundays.  His  father,  a  zealous  Romanist, 
fetched  him  away  again  and  again,  but  the  boy,  undaunted 
and  determmed  to  become  acquainted  with  the  Word  of 
God,  procured  a  Testament  for  himself  and  to  "conceal 
it,  laid  it  under  the  bed-straw,  and  read  it  at  convenient 
times."  One  night  in  a  conversation  with  his  mother  he 
declared  that  kneeling  before  the  crucifix  was  a  breach 
of  the  commandment,  "Thou  shalt  not  make  any  graven 
image,  nor  bow  down  to  it,  nor  worship  it,"  which,  com- 
ing to  the  ears  of  his  father,  he  dragged  his  son  from  the 
bed,  and  whipped  him  unmercifully.  "And  when  the 
young  man  bore  this  beating,  as  he  related,  with  a  kind 
of  joy,  considering  it  was  for  Christ's  sake,  and  shed  not 
a  tear,  his  father,  seeing  that  was  more  enraged,  and  ran 
down  and  fetched  a  halter,  and  put  it  about  his  neck, 
saying  he  would  hang  him." 

Many  more  interesting  particulars  of  the  time  might 
be  given,  but  we  have  space  only  to  mention  one  or  two 
in  connection  with  our  own  Scottish  history.  They  will 
be  found  at  length  in  Dr.  Eadie's  valuable  work.  The 
English  Bible.  Thus  he  tells  us  that  the  enmity  of  the 
popish  ecclesiastics  in  the  north  against  the  English 
Scriptures  was  very  strong,  and  that  Cardinal  Beaton 
had  a  list  of  intended  victims,  to  the  number  of  more 
than  a  hundred  of  the  nobility  and  gentry,  because,  in 
the  words  of  the  English  ambassador,  they  were  "gentle- 
men all  well-minded  to  God's  Word."  The  King  could 
not  stand  even  the  sight  of  the  list ;  but  through  the 
influence  of  Beaton  five   persons   were   burned   on   the 

young  man,  and  of  a  big  stature,  who  could  read  well,  and  had  an 
audible  voice,"  furnished  Sir  George  Harvey  with  the  subject  of  a 
well-known  picture. 


THE  GREAT  BIBLE  75 

Castle  Hill  of  Edinburgh  on  the  ist  March  1539,  for 
apparently  no  other  crime  than  that  they  "did  not 
hesitate  to  study  the  books  both  of  the  Old  and  New 
Testament."  At  the  trial  of  one  of  them,  Dean  Thomas 
Forrest,  Vicar  of  Dollar,  it  was  brought  forward  against 
him  —  as  apparently  a  dangerous  innovation  ! — that  he 
preached  out  of  the  Scripture,  and  committed  every  day 
three  chapters  to  memory  ;  and  further,  that  he  taught 
his  parishioners  to  say  the  Paternoster,  the  Creed,  and 
the  Ten  Commandments  in  English,  "  which  is  contrary 
to  our  Acts,  that  they  should  know  what  they  say." 
When  in  vindication  Forrest  quoted  the  declaration  of 
the  Apostle  that  "  he  would  rather  speak  five  words  with 
the  understanding,  than  ten  thousand  in  an  unknown 
tongue,"  he  was  challenged  by  his  interrogators,  "Where 
foundest  thou  that?"  "In  my  book  here,  in  my 
sleeve,"  was  his  reply.  Immediately  it  was  plucked 
out,  and  his  accuser  exclaimed  :  "Behold,  sirs,  he  has 
the  book  of  heresy  in  his  sleeve  that  has  made  all  the 
din  and  play  in  our  Kirk."  It  was  at  this  trial  that  the 
Bishop  of  Dunkeld  merrily  exclaimed  :  "  I  thank  God 
that  I  never  knew  what  the  Old  or  New  Testament 
was." 

This  deplorable  state  of  matters  was  not,  however, 
long  allowed  to  continue.  On  the  12th  of  March  1543 
it  was  proposed  in  the  Parliament  meeting  at  Edinburgh, 
that  "all  the  lieges  in  this  realm  may  read  the  Scriptures 
in  our  native  tongue."  All  efforts  at  opposition  or 
compromise  were  in  vain — though  the  Dean  of  Restalrig 
"long  repugned,"  and  certain  "old  bosses  along  with 
him  " — and  proclamation  was  made  at  the  Market  Cross 
of  Edinburgh,  that  every  man  was  free  to  read  "the 
Scriptures  in  his  own  or  the  English  tongue."  That  the 
nation  as  a  whole  gladly  availed  itself  of  this  liberty  is 
clear  from  John  Knox's  words,  twenty-five  years  later, 
describing  the  effects  of  the  Act :  "  This  was  no  small 
victory  of  Christ  Jesus,  fighting  against  the  conjured 
enemies  of  His  verity  :  not  small  comfort  to  such  as 
before  were  holden  in  such  bondage  that  they  durst  not 


76  THE  ENGLISH  BIBLE 

have  read  the  Lord's  Prayer,  the  Ten  Commandments, 
nor  Articles  of  their  faith  in  the  EngHsh  tongue,  but 
they  should  have  been  accused  of  heresy.  There  might 
have  been  seen  the  Bible  lying  almost  upon  eveiy  gentle- 
man's table.  The  New^  Testament  was  borne  about  in 
many  men's  hands." 


THE  GENEVAN   VERSIONS  77 


CHAPTER    X 

THE    GENEVAN    VERSIONS 

I.  Events  from  1 541-1557.  2.  Whittingham's  Testament 
of  1557-  3-  The  Genevan  Bible  of  1560.  4.  Mar- 
ginal Notes.  5.  Popularity  of  the  Genevan  Bible. 
6.   The  Bassandyne  Bible. 

§  I.  Events  from  1541-1557. — For  some  years  after 
the  publication  of  the  Great  Bible  there  was  a  time  of 
suspense  in  the  external  history  of  our  English  Bible. 
No  new  versions  appeared,  a  proposed  revision  by  the 
Bishops  falling  through,  owing  to  Gardiner's  pressing  the 
retention  of  so  many  Latin  words  in  the  text  that  it 
would  have  been  practically  unintelligible.  Nor,  which 
is  far  more  serious,  were  the  older  versions  left  undis- 
turbed. In  1543  Parliament  passed  an  Act  for  the  a 
"Advancement  of  True  Religion,"  in  which  all  books 
of  Tindale's  translation  were  "clearly  and  utterly 
abolished  and  extinguished,  and  forbidden  to  be  kept 
or  used "  ;  and  no  one  belonging  to  the  class  of  ap- 
prentices, servants,  husbandmen,  or  labourers  was  per- 
mitted to  read  the  Old  or  New  Testament  at  all  either 
in  public  or  in  private.  The  reason  for  such  an  absurd 
enactment  it  is  difficult  now  to  understand,  but  it  doubt- 
less arose  out  of  Heniy's  complaint  that  the  book  was 
"disputed,  rhymed,  sung,  and  jangled  in  every  alehouse 
and  tavern,  contrary  to  the  true  meaning  and  doctrine 
of  the  same."  Three  years  later  the  proscription  was 
extended  in  still  more  rigorous  terms  to  the  writings  of  * 
Wycliffe,  Coverdale,  and  many  others,  so  that  practi- 
cally only  the  Great  Bible  was  left.      And  such  was  the 


78  THE  ENGLISH  BIBLE 

state  of  the  times  that  even  its  use  must  have  been 
attended  with  a  certain  amount  of  danger. 

By  Henry's  death  on  28th  January  1547,  and  the 
accession  of  Edward  VI.  to  the  throne,  all  this  was 
changed.  According  to  a  well-known  story,  the  English 
Bible  was  then  for  the  first  time  used  at  a  royal 
coronation,  for  when  three  swords  were  brought,  signs 
of  his  being  king  of  three  kingdoms,  Edward  said  there 
was  yet  one  wanting.  "  And  when  the  nobles  about  him 
asked  what  that  was,  he  answered.  The  Bible.  '  That 
book,'  added  he,  'is  the  Sword  of  the  Spirit,  and  to  be 
preferred  before  these  swords.'  .  .  .  And  when  the  pious 
young  King  had  said  this,  and  some  other  like  words, 
he  commanded  the  Bible  with  the  greatest  reverence  to 
be  brought  and  carried  before  him."  One  of  Edward's 
first  acts,  moreover,  was  to  issue  an  order  requiring 
that  all  beneficed  persons  "shall  provide  within  three 
months  next  after  this  visitation,  one  book  of  the  whole 
Bible  of  the  largest  volume  in  English  "  ;  and  that,  so 
far  from  discouraging  its  use,  they  "  shall  rather  conform 
and  exhort  every  person  to  read  the  same,  as  the  very 
lively  word  of  God,  and  the  special  food  of  man's  soul." 
That  these  enactments  proved  no  dead  letter  is  evidenced 
by  the  fact  that  during  Edward's  short  reign  at  least 
thirteen  editions  of  the  Bible  and  thirty-five  editions  of 
the  New  Testament  were  printed.  The  same  reign  saw 
also  the  introduction  of  the  Book  of  Common  Prayer, 
which,  with  slight  alterations,  is  still  used  in  the  Church 
of  England,  and  of  the  Forty-two,  afterwards  reduced 
to  Thirty -nine.  Articles  of  Religion,  which  form  that 
Church's  doctrinal  standard. 

Amidst  such  signs  of  religious  zeal,  we  may  be  sure 
that  the  work  of  Bible-translation  was  not  lost  sight  of; 
but  still  no  new  version  appeared.  A  revision  contem- 
plated by  Cranmer  came  to  nothing,  because  the  two 
scholars  whom  he  had  secured  for  the  purpose  "fell  sick, 
which  gave  a  very  unhappy  stop  to  their  studies  "  ;  while 
a  translation  of  the  New  Testament  by  Sir  John  Cheke 
did  not  get  farther  than  the  middle  of  the  first  chapter  of 


THE  GENEVAN   VERSIONS  79 

St.  Mark.^  It  is  not  even  certain  that  his  version  was  ever 
intended  for  publication  ;  but  in  any  case  the  death  of 
Edward  VI.  and  the  accession  of  "Bloody  "  Mary  gave  a 
new  turn  to  the  ever- varying  fortunes  of  our  Bible's  history. 
Cranmer  soon  followed  Rogers  to  the  stake,  and  the 
public,  though  apparently  not  the  private,  use  of  the 
Scriptures  was  strictly  forbidden.  Foreseeing  what  was 
coming,  a  number  of  leading  Reformers  had  already  con- 
trived to  escape  to  the  Continent ;  and  of  these  a  small 
band  eventually  settled  at  Geneva,  attracted  doubtless  by 
the  fame  of  Calvin.  There,  as  they  themselves  tell  us, 
*'  we  thought  we  could  bestow  our  labours  and  study  in 
nothing  which  could  be  more  acceptable  to  God,  and 
comfortable  to  His  Church,  than  in  the  translating  of 
the  Scriptures  into  our  native  tongue." 

§  2.  Whittingham's  Testament  of  1557.— We 

shall  see  the  result  of  their  combined  labours  directly,  but 
in  the  meantime  we  have  to  notice  that  in  1557  there 
appeared  a  translation  of  the  New  Testament  alone,  ap- 
parently the  unaided  work  of  one  of  their  number,  William 
Whittingham.2  In  his  Address  to  the  Reader,  Whitting- 
ham  describes  his  work  as  specially  intended  for  the 
"simple  lambs  which  partly  are  already  in  the  fold  of 
Christ,  and  partly  wandering,  through  ignorance."  And 
it  was  doubtless  the  thought  of  the  same  readers  that  led 
to  the  numerous  annotations,  in  which  he  claims  to  have 
left  "nothing  unexpounded,  whereby  he  that  is  anything 
exercised  in  the  Scriptures  of  God  might  justly  complain 
of  hardness. -'3  The  text,  according  to  the  title-page, 
had    been    "conferred  diligently  with    the   Greek,  and 

1  The  most  interesting  feature  of  this  fragment  is  the  translator's 
evident  desire  to  introduce  home -born  terms.  Thus  with  him 
parable  is  biword  ;  regeneration,  ,s:ai7ibirth ;  and  crucified,  crossed. 
To  the  same  striving  after  simplicity  we  owe  such  quaint  renderings 
as  "  Happy  be  the  beggars  in  spirit,  for  the  kingdom  of  heaven  is 
theirs"  (Matt.  v.  3);  and  "They  have  winked  hard  with  their  own 
eyes,  lest  they  should  see  with  their  eyes  "  (xiii.  15). 

2  Whittingham  was  married  to  Calvin's  sister-in-law,  not  sister 
as  is  often  stated,  and  in  1559  succeeded  Knox  in  the  pastorate  of 
the  English  congregation.  He  contributed  several  Psalms  to  the 
Stemhold  and  Hopkins'  Collection. 

3  An  Epistle  by  John  Calvin  declaring  that  "Christ  is  the  end  of 


8o  THE  ENGLISH  BIBLE 

best  approved  translations,"  and  was  for  the  first  time 
.  in  an  English  translation  divided  into  verses.  In  pre- 
vious translations  no  other  sub-division  had  ever  been 
attempted  than  into  paragraphs  of  various  lengths,  but 
Whittingham  now  "  for  the  profit  of  the  reader " 
adopted  the  shorter  sections  prepared  by  R.  Stephens 
for  one  of  his  editions  of  the  Greek  Testament.  ^  These 
verse-divisions  were  afterwards  applied  to  the  whole 
Bible  in  1560,  from  which  they  have  passed  into  our 
own  Authorised  Version.  They  can  however  only  be 
defended  on  the  ground  of  convenience  of  reference,  for 
their  whole  tendency  is  to  destroy  the  connection,  and 
so  to  obscure  the  sense  of  the  original. 

Another  innovation  which  Whittingham  introduced, 
and  which  has  also  come  down  to  us,  was  the  use  of 
different  type  to  indicate  words  that  had  no  place  in  the 
I  original,  but  which  were  added  to  make  the  meaning 
clear;  for  example  :  Luke  vi.  40,  "The  disciple  is  not 
above  his  master  :  but  whosoever  will  be  a  perfect  disciple 
shall  be  as  his  master  is  "  ;  2  Cor.  v.  13,  "For  whether 
we  be  fools,  we  are  fools  to  God  ;  or  whether  we  be 
in  our  right  mind,  we  are  in  our  right  mind  for  your 
commodity  J"^ 

Of  the  translation  itself,  it  is  not  necessary  to  say 
more  just  now  than  that  it  is  founded  not  so  much  on 
the  Great  Bible  as  on  Tindale.  A  few  verses  from  the 
Epistle  to  the  Philippians  will  make  this  clear,  as  well 
as  illustrate  the  general  character  of  the  translation. 

Phil.  ii.  5- 11  (Whittingham,  1557) 

5.   Let  the  same  mind  be  in  you  that  was  in  Christ 
Jesus. 

the  law  "  was  also  prefixed  to  the  Testament,  and  doubtless  further 
helped  its  popularity. 

1  Stephens  worked  out  his  scheme  hurriedly  on  a  journey  from 
Paris  to  Lyons  in  1551.     "  I  think,"  sa^'s  an  old  commentator,  "it 
had  been  better  done  on  his  knees  in  the  closet  "  (quoted  by  Smyth, 
Hoiv  ive  got  our  Bible,  p.  67,  note).     In  the  Old   Testament  the    ^ 
division  into  verses  was  already  in  existence  in  the  Hebrew  Bible. 


THE  GENEVAN   VERSIONS  8r 

6.  Who  being  in  the  shape  of  God,  thought  it  no 
robbery  to  be  equal  with  God. 

7.  But  He  made  Himself  of  no  reputation,  and 
took  on  Him  the  shape  of  a  servant,  and  was  made 
like  unto  men,  and  was  found  in  appearance  as  a 
man, 

8.  He  humbled  Himself,  and  became  obedient 
unto  the  death,  even  the  death  of  the  cross. 

9.  Wherefore,  God  hath  highly  exalted  Him,  and 
given  Him  a  Name  above  all  names. 

10.  That  at  the  Name  of  Jesus  should  every  knee 
bow,  both  of  things  in  heaven,  and  things  in  earth, 
and  things  under  earth. 

1 1.  And  that  every  tongue  should  confess  that  Jesus 
Christ  is  the  Lord,  unto  the  praise  of  God  the  Father. 

In  these  verses,  Whittingham  agrees  with  the  Great 
Bible  as  against  Tindale  (1534)  in  only  one  place,  but 
with  Tindale  as  against  the  Great  Bible  in  no  fewer  than 
seven  places.  He  ditfers  from  both  moreover  in  other  seven 
places,  of  which  the  most  important  are  :  "  was  made  " 
for  "became,"  "in  appearance"  for  "in  his  apparell," 
"at  the  Name  of  Jesus"  for  "in  the  Name  of  Jesus," 
and  "every  tongue"  for  "all  tongues."  W^ith  one  ex- 
ception ("in  appearance")  these  changes  have  all  found 
their  way  into  the  A.V. ,  and  it  is  curious  to  think  that  by 
the  erroneous  substitution  of  "  at  the  Name"  for  "in  the 
Name  of  Jesus  should  every  knee  bow,"  this  version  has 
actually  been  the  means  of  establishing  one  of  those  out- 
ward ceremonies  against  which  the  Genevan  Reformers 
so  strongly  set  themselves. ^ 

§  3-  The  Genevan  Bible  of  1560.— Three  years 

after  the  appearance  of  Whittingham's  Testament,  a  new 
translation  of  the  whole  Bible  was  issued  at  Geneva, 
which  in  one  important  particular  differed  from  all  pre- 
ceding versions.  It  was  the  work  of  no  single  scholar, 
but  of  a  small  body  of  men  banded  together  for  the  pur- 

1  The  custom  of  bowing  in  English  churches  when  the  name  of 
Jesus  is  mentioned  is  traced  to  this  verse. 


82  THE  ENGLISH  BIBLE 

pose,  amongst  whom  we  may  specially  mention  William 
Whittingham,  Thomas  Sampson,  and  Anthony  Gilby. 
Others  of  the  exiles,  such  as  the  veteran  translator  Miles 
Coverdale,  and  John  Knox,  may  have  taken  part  in  the 
work  for  a  time,  but  they  did  not  remain  at  Geneva  to 
see  its  completion.  The  translators  had  also  the  benefit 
of  the  advice  of  Calvin  and  Beza. 

The  title  of  this  Bible,  which  in  more  ways  than  one 
was  to  exercise  a  marked  influence  on  our  own  A.V,, 
ran  as  follows  : — 

"  The  Bible  and  Holy  Scriptures  conteyned  in  the 
Olde  and  Newe  Testament.  Translated  according  to 
the  Ebrue  and  Greke,  and  conferred  with  the  best 
translations  in  diuers  languages.  With  moste  profit- 
able annotations  vpon  all  the  hard  places,  and  other 
thinges  of  great  importance,  as  may  appeare  in  the 
Epistle  to  the  Reader." 

In  size,  the  volume  was  a  moderate  quarto,  unlike  the 
huge  folio  editions  of  the  Great  Bible,  and  the  cost  of 
its  production  was  met  by  members  of  the  congregation 
at  Geneva.  1 

In  their  introductory  epistle,  as  we  have  already  seen 
in  similar  instances,  the  translators  give  us  a  clear 
glimpse  into  their  spirit  and  aims.  After  speaking  of 
previous  translations  as  requiring  greatly  "to  be  perused 
and  reformed,"  they  go  on  to  speak  of  the  advantages 
that  they  enjoy  for  this  task  "by  reason  of  so  many 
godly  and  learned  men,  and  such  diversities  of  transla- 
tions in  divers  tongues."  "And  this,"  they  continue, 
"we  may  with  good  conscience  protest,  that  we  have  in 
every  point  and  word,  according  to  the  measure  of  that 
knowledge  which  it  pleased  Almighty  God  to  give  us, 
faithfully  rendered  the  text,  and  in  all  hard  places  most 
sincerely  expounded  the  same.  For  God  is  our  witness, 
that  we  have  by  all  means  endeavoured  to  set  forth  the 

1  Amongst  these  was  John  Bodley,  father  of  the  founder  of  the 
famous  Bodleian  Library  at  Oxford,  who  afterwards  received  from 
Elizabeth  the  exclusive  right  of  printing  the  new  version  in  England 
for  seven  years. 


THE  GENEVAN   VERSIONS  83 

purity  of  the  word  and  right  sense  of  the  Holy  Ghost, 
for  the  edifying  of  the  brethren  in  faith  and  charity." 

That  the  Genevan  translators  are  entitled  to  make  this 
claim,  scholars  who  have  critically  examined  their  work 
are  fully  agreed.  Every  page  proves  that  no  efforts 
were  spared  to  follow  as  correct  a  text  as  possible,  and 
that  the  best  available  aids  were  freely  consulted.  Thus 
to  confine  ourselves  to  the  New  Testament,  which  started 
naturally  from  Whittingham's  Testament  as  a  basis,  the 
student  will  do  well  to  compare  the  following  verses 
with  the  earlier  version  given  above.  The  differences 
between  the  two  versions  are  again  indicated  by  italics. 

Phil.  ii.  5-1 1  (Genevan,  1560) 

5.  Let  the  same  mind  be  in  you  that  was  even  in 
Christ  Jesus. 

6.  Who  being  in  the  for})i  of  God,  thought  it  no 
robbery  to  be  equal  with  God  : 

7.  But  He  made  Himself  of  no  reputation,  and 
took  on  Him  the  fortn  of  a  servant,  and  was  made 
like  unto  men,  and  was  found  in  shape  as  a  man. 

8.  He  humbled  Himself,  and  became  obedient 
unto  the  death,  even  the  death  of  the  Cross. 

9.  Wherefore  God  hath  also  highly  exalted  Him, 
and  given  Him  a  name  above  every  name. 

10.  That  at  the  Name  of  Jesus  should  every  knee 
bow,  both  of  things  in  heaven,  and  things  in  earth, 
and  things  under  the  earth. 

11.  And  that  every  tongue  should  confess  that 
Jesus  Christ  is  the  Lord,  unto  the  glory  of  God  the 
Father. 

The  changes  here  may  not  at  first  appear  of  great 
importance ;  but  their  very  minuteness  is  in  itself  a 
striking  proof  of  the  care  bestowed  upon  the  work,  and 
of  the  way  in  which  step  by  step  our  English  version 
has  been  perfected. 

Indeed,  the  accuracy  of  both  versions  is  veiy  remark- 
able, and,  if  space  permitted,  many  examples  might  be 
brought    forward    of    passages    in    which    they   showed 


84  THE  ENGLISH  BIBLE 

themselves  the  first  of  all  the  English  translators  to  seize 
the  exact  meaning  of  the  original ;  as  Matt,  xxviii.  14, 
where  Whittingham's  Testament  renders  rightly,  "And 
if  this  come  befo7'e  the  Governor,  we  will  pacify  him," 
with  reference  to  a  judicial  hearing,  and  not  merely,  as 
in  Tindale  and  the  Great  Bible,  " /t?  the  ruler'' s  ears^'' 
which  might  be  the  result  of  chance  hearsay  ;  or  again, 
Jas.  i.  13,  where  both  versions  correctly  translate 
"God  cannot  be  tempted  with  evil,"  instead  of  "God 
tempteth  not  unto  evil  "  (Wycliffe  and  Tindale).  In  this 
same  chapter  the  Genevan  have  caught  the  full  sense 
of  the  figure,  which  is  missed  by  all  English  versions 
except  the  R.V.  of  1881,  "with  whom  is  no  variable- 
ness, neither  shadowing  by  turning''''  (ver.   17). 

Apart  too  from  the  exact  scholarship  which  these  ren- 
derings display,  we  owe  to  the  Genevan  translators  many 
happy  terms  of  expression,  as  the  following  selection 
from  Dr.  Edgar's  table  of  comparison  will  prove.  ^ 

Great  Bible,  1540  Genevan  Bible,  1560 

Deut.  xxxii.  7,  "  Remember  the  "Remember    the  days  of 

days   of  the   world  that   is   past,         old,  consider  the  years  of  so 
consider  the  years   from   time  to        many  generations." 
time." 

Eccles.  xii.  i,  "Remember  thy  "  Remember       now       thy 

Maker  the  sooner  in  thy  youth,  or  Creator  in  the  days  of  thy 
ever  the  daj^s  of  adversity  come."         youth,    whiles   the   evil   days 

come  not." 

Isa.  xi.  3,  "He  shall  not  give  "He  shall  not  judge  after 

sentence  after  the  thing  that  shall        the  sight  of  his  eyes." 
be  brought  before  his  eyes." 

Isa.  xxxii.  2,  "The  shadow  of  "The  shadow  of  a  great 

a  great  rock  in  a  Ary  land."  rock  in  a  weary  land." 

Other  renderings  are  interesting  rather  for  their 
quaintness,  as  when  in  Gen.  iii.  7  we  read,  "They 
sewed  fig-tree  leaves  together,  and  made  themselves 
breeches  " — the  translation  which  has  given  the  Genevan 
Bible  the  common  name  of  the  Breeches  Bible.  ^ 

1  Bibles  of  England,  p.  172. 

2  The  rendering,  however,  is  not  peculiar  to  the  Genevan,  but  is 


THE  GENEVAN  VERSIONS  85 

§  4-  Marginal  Notes. — The  same  scholarship  and 
care  which  distinguish  the  text  reappear  in  the  marginal 
notes  with  which  it  is  provided.  Some  of  them,  indeed, 
as  might  be  expected  in  the  circumstances,  display  a 
strongly  Calvinistic  bias,  and  others  are  bitterly  anti- 
papal  ;  but  the  great  majority  are  simply  explanatory 
or  hortatory.      The  following  are  specimens  : — 

Exod.  i.  19,  "Their  disobedience  herein  was 
lawful,  but  their  dissembling  evil." 

Psa.  Ixxxix.  12,  "Tabor  is  a  mountain  westward 
from  Jerusalem,  and  Hermon  eastward  :  so  the  pro- 
phet signifieth  that  all  parts  and  places  of  the  world 
shall  obey  God's  power  for  the  deliverance  of  His 
Church." 

Rom.  vi.  5,  "The  Greek  word  meaneth,  that  we 
grow  up  together  with  Christ,  as  we  see  moss,  ivy, 
mistletoe,  or  such  like  grow  up  by  a  tree,  and  are 
nourished  with  the  juice  thereof." 

Rom.  ix.  15,  "As  the  only  will  and  purpose  of 
God  is  the  chief  cause  of  election  and  reprobation  : 
so  His  free  mercy  in  Christ  is  an  inferior  cause  of 
salvation,  and  the  hardening  of  the  heart  an  inferior 
cause  of  damnation. " 

Rev.  ix.  3,  "  Locusts  are  false  teachers,  heretics, 
and  worldly  subtil  prelates,  with  monks,  friars, 
cardinals,  patriarchs,  archbishops,  bishops,  doctors, 
bachelors,  and  masters,  which  forsake  Christ,  to  main- 
tain false  doctrine." 

§  5-   Popularity    of   the    Genevan    Bible.— 

These  notes,  as  well  as  the  convenient  form  in  which  it 
was  issued,  tended  as  much  as  anything  else  to  the  warm 
welcome  which  was  at  once  given  to  the  new  version  on 
its  arrival  in  England.  Though  never  sanctioned  for 
public  use,  it  quickly  established  its  place  as  the  hotise-  % 
hold  copy  of    the  Scriptures    amongst    Bible    students, 

found  both  in  Caxton's  Golden  Legend  and  in  Wycliffe.  Common 
also  to  Wycliffe  and  the  Genevan  is  the  word  "cretche"  or  cradle 
for  "manger"  in  Luke  ii.  7 


86  THE  ENGLISH  BIBLE 

passing  in  all  through  more  than  130  editions,  several  of 
which  appeared  even  after  the  publication  of  the  A.V. 
in  161 1. 1 

The  Genevan  was,  indeed,  peculiarly  the  Puritan's 
Bible,  one  interesting  proof  of  which  need  alone  be 
mentioned.  It  has  for  long  been  a  tradition  that  each 
of  the  soldiers  in  the  Commonwealth  army  was  pro- 
vided with  a  pocket-bible,  and  there  have  been  various 
conjectures  as  to  which  edition  was  used.  Recent 
investigations  have  however  established  that  this  Bible 
consisted  simply  of  appropriate  quotations  from  the 
Scriptures,  printed  in  pocket  form,  and  that  these  quo- 
tations were  taken  from  the  Genevan  Version.  The  first 
two  will  show  their  character.  2 

A    SOULDIER    MUST    NOT    DOE    WICKEDLY 

Deut.  23.  9,  "When  thou  goest  out  with  the  host 
against  thine  enemies,  keepe  thee  then  from  all 
wickednesse." 

Luke  3.  14,  "The  souldiers  likewise  demanded  of 
him,  saying,  and  what  shall  we  do  ?  And  he  said 
unto  them,  doe  violence  to  no  man,  neither  accuse 
any  falsely,  and  be  content  with  your  wages." 

§  6.  The    Bassandyne    Bible.  —  The    Genevan 

Bible  was  the  tirst  edition  of  the  Bible  printed  in 
Scotland.  This  was  in  1579 — the  New  Testament  alone 
had  already  appeared  in  1576 — and  it  is  usually  described 
as  the  Bassandyne  Bible^  from  the  printer's  name,  Thomas 
Bassandyne.  He,  however,  died  before  the  publication, 
and  his  name  in  consequence  does  not  appear  on  the 
completed  work.  The  cost  of  this  Bible,  as  fixed  by  the 
General  Assembly,  was  £\  :  1 3  :  4  pennies  Scottis  ;  and 

^  In  1649  an  edition  of  the  A.V.  itself  was  actually  brought  out 
with  the  Genevan  notes,  evidently  for  the  purpose  of  commending 
it  to  public  favour.  When  the  notes  were  finally  withdrawn,  the 
people,  according  to  Fuller,  complained  that  "  they  could  not  see 
into  the  sense  of  the  Scriptures  for  lack  of  the  spectacles  of  the 
Genevan  annotations." 

^  From  a  facsimile  reprint  of  Crom^velT s  Soldiers  Bible  just 
published  by  Mr.  Elliot  Stock. 


THE  GENEVAN  VERSIONS  87 

by  an  Act  of  Parliament  every  householder  possessed  of  a 
certain  sum  was  bound  to  have  a  copy. 

Nor  was  this  a  mere  idle  letter;  for  in  June  1580 
one  John  Williamson  was  commissioned  to  visit  and 
search  every  house  in  the  realm,  "and  to  require  the 
sicht  of  their  Bible  and  Psalm-buke,  gif  they  ony  have, 
to  be  marked  with  their  awn  name,  for  eschewing  of 
fraudful  dealing  in  that  behalf."  And  about  the  same 
time  the  Magistrates  of  Edinburgh  issued  a  proclamation 
on  their  own  behalf,  commanding  all  citizens  to  have 
Bibles  in  terms  of  the  Act  of  Parliament,  and  announcing 
that  copies  are  to  be  "  sauld  in  the  merchant  buith  of 
Andrew  Williamson,  on  the  north  side  of  this  burgh, 
besyde  the  Meill  Mercat."! 

We  can  only  further  notice  that  the  text  of  the 
Genevan  version,  unlike  the  text  of  most  previous 
versions,  was  never  subjected  to  a  complete  revision  ; 
though  in  1576  one  Laurence  Tomson  brought  out  an 
amended  edition  of  the  New  Testament  in  which  the 
influence  of  Beza  is  so  marked,  that  it  may  be  taken  as 
explaining  the  misleading  statement  on  the  title-page, 
"translated  out  of  Greek  by  Theodore  Beza."  After 
1587,  Tomson's  Testament  generally  took  the  place  of 
the  earlier  version  in  fresh  issues  of  the  Bible.- 

1  For  these  and  many  other  interesting  particulars  see  History  of 
the  Bassandyne  Bible,  by  William  T.  Dobson,  Edinburgh,  1887. 
What  is  believed  to  be  a  perfect  copy  of  the  Bassandyne  Bible  was 
acquired  a  few  years  ago  for  the  Edinburgh  Public  Library. 

-  The  order  of  books  in  the  Genevan  Bible  is  the  same  as  that  in 
our  modern  Bibles,  except  that  the  Prayer  of  Manasseh  from  the 
Apocrypha  was  inserted  after  Second  Chronicles.  The  name  of  St. 
Paul  is  omitted  from  the  title  of  the  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews,  and  in  a 
prefatory  argument  the  authorship  is  left  an  open  question  :  "  For 
seeing  the  Spirit  of  God  is  the  author  thereof,  it  diminisheth  nothing 
the  authority  although  we  know  not  with  what  pen  He  wrote  it." 


THE  ENGLISH  BIBLE 


CHAPTER    XI 

THE    bishops'    bible 

I.  Origin  of  the  Bishops'  Bible.  2.  Archbishop  Parker 
and  the  Bishops.  3.  Description  of  the  Bishops' 
Bible.  4.  Character  of  the  translation,  5.  Marginal 
notes.      6.   General  estimate. 

§  I.  Origin  of  the  Bishops'  Bible.— Amongst  the 

symbolic  greetings  with  which  Queen  Elizabeth  was 
welcomed  as  she  passed  through  the  streets  of  London 
on  the  occasion  of  her  accession  was  one  which  has  an 
interesting  bearing  on  the  subject  before  us.  At  the 
"  Little  Conduit  in  Cheape"  an  old  man  appeared  with 
scythe  and  wings,  representing  Father  Time,  leading  his 
daughter  Truth.  In  her  hand  Truth  held  a  copy  of  the 
Bible  in  English,  bearing  the  inscription  Verbuin  Veritatis, 
the  Word  of  Truth,  and  this  she  delivered  to  the  Queen. 
"  But  she,  as  soon  as  she  had  received  the  book,  kissed 
it,"  and  after  thanking  the  city  for  the  present,  said 
"  she  would  often  read  over  that  book  " — "  to  the  great 
comfort,"  it  is  added  afterwards,  "  of  the  lookers- 
on." 

To  the  attitude  here  taken  up  Elizabeth  remained  on 
the  whole  consistent.  For  if  slie  did  not  always  display 
that  religious  zeal  which  the  more  ardent  Reformers 
hoped  for,  she  at  least  consulted  the  feelings  of  her 
Protestant  subjects  in  leaving  the  circulation  of  the 
Scriptures  open  and  uncontrolled.  In  1559  she  pleased 
English  Churchmen  by  enacting,  as  Edward  VI.  had 
done,  that  ''one  book  of  the  whole  Bible  of  the  largest 
volume  in  English "  should  be  set  up  in  every  parish  ; 


THE  BISHOPS'  BIBLE  89 

while  in  the  following  year  she  accepted  the  dedication 
of  the  Bible  of  the  Genevan  exiles. 

The  two  versions,  the  Great  Bible  and  the  Genevan 
Bible,  were  thus  brought  into  a  kind  of  conflict  which 
was  in  any  case  inevitable.  It  would  have  been  unreason- 
able to  expect  that  the  successors  of  Cromwell  and 
Cranmer  could  look  with  favour  on  a  Bible  emanating 
from  the  school  of  Calvin,  and  containing  so  many 
"prejudicial  notes."  On  the  other  hand  the  growing 
popularity  of  the  Genevan  version  amongst  the  people,  j 
and  its  admitted  excellences  of  translation,  made  it 
impossible  for  the  Great  Bible  any  longer  to  hold  its 
place  unchallenged.  The  need  of  an  "  authorised  " 
version  began  thus  to  make  itself  very  widely  felt,  and 
about  the  year  1563-64,  Matthew  Parker,  the  new  Arch- 
bishop of  Canterbury,  set  himself  to  try  to  supply  the 
want.  The  result  was  the  Bible  which,  from  the  number 
of  Bishops  engaged  in  its  production,  is  generally  known 

as  the  Bishops'  Bible. 

§  2.  Archbishop  Parker  and  the  Bishops.— 

Parker's  scheme  was  as  follows.  Sorting  out  "  the 
whole  Bible  into  parcels  "  he  distributed  these  amongst 
qualified  scholars  "  to  peruse  and  collate,"  adding  certain 
general  instructions  for  their  guidance  in  the  work.  Of 
these  instructions  the  most  important  were,  that  the 
revisers  were  "  to  follow  the  common  English  translation 
used  in  the  churches,  and  not  to  recede  from  it,  but 
where  it  varieth  manifestly  from  the  Hebrew  or  Greek 
original";  and  further  "to  make  no  bitter  notes  upon  . 
any  text,  or  yet  to  set  down  any  determination  in  places 
of  controversy."  We  shall  see  directly  how  these 
instructions  were  carried  out  ;  but  in  the  meantime,  to 
show  the  character  of  the  men  engaged  in  the  work,  we 
may  gather  a  few  sentences  from  their  letters  addressed 
to  Parker.  1     Thus  Bishop  Parkhurst  of  Norwich  pledges 

1  The  initials  of  a  number  of  the  translators  appear  at  the  end  of 
their  several  "parcels,"  a  course  which  the  Archbishop  thought 
politic  "to  make  them  more  diligent  and  answerable  for  their 
doings."    But  these  initials  do  not  always  agree  with  a  list  contained 


90  THE  ENGLISH  BIBLE 

himself  "  to  travel  therein  with  such  diligence  and  ex- 
pedition as  he  might";  Bishop  Sandys  thinks  "your 
Grace  shall  do  well  to  make  the  whole  Bible  to  be  dili- 
gently surveyed  by  some  well  learned  before  it  be  put  to 
print"  ;  and  Bishop  Cox  expresses  the  hope  that  "such 
usual  words  as  we  English  people  be  acquainted  with 
might  still  remain  in  their  form  and  sound,  so  far  forth 
as  the  Hebrew  will  well  bear.  Ink-horn  terms  to  be 
avoided."  In  view  of  so  sensible  a  suggestion  it  is 
astonishing  to  find  the  same  prelate  proposing  that  the  verbs 
in  the  Psalms  should  be  translated  "  uniformly  in  one 
tense  " — a  method  of  securing  uniformity  only  less  objec- 
tionable than  that  of  Bishop  Guest  of  Rochester.  The 
Psalter  had  been  assigned  to  him,  and  writing  to  apologise 
for  his  "rude  handling"  of  it,  he  goes  on  to  say:  "Where 
in  the  New  Testament  one  piece  of  a  Psalm  is  reported, 
I  translate  it  in  the  Psalms  according  to  the  translation 
thereof  in  the  New  Testament,  for  the  avoiding  of  the 
offence  that  may  rise  to  the  people  upon  divers  trans- 
lations." "The  principle  of  pious  frauds,"  remarks 
Dr.  Plumptre,  "of  distorting  the  truth  for  the  sake 
of  edification,  has  perhaps  often  been  acted  on  by 
other  translators.  It  has  not  often  been  so  explicitly 
avowed."  i 

On  5th  October  1568  a  copy  of  the  completed  trans- 
lation was  ready  for  presentation  to  the  Queen,  and  in  a 
letter  to  Cecil  accompanying  it  Parker  expressed  the  hope 
that  his  "honour  would  obtain  of  the  Queen's  Highness 
that  this  edition  might  be  licensed,  and  only  commended 
in  public  reading  in  churches,  to  draw  to  one  uni- 
formity." "-^  But  from  whatever  cause,  this  license  was 
apparently  never  granted.  Cranmer's  Bible  continued  to 
bear  upon  it  the  mandate  "according  to  the  translation 

in  a  letter  addressed  by  Parker  to  Cecil,  and  it  is  no  longer  possible 
to  apportion  the  different  books  exactly. 

1  Article  "  Version,  Authorised,"  in  Sviitlis  Bib.  Diet.  vol.  iii.  p. 
1674. 

-  Parker's  passion  for  uniformity  gave  rise  to  Fuller's  pun,  "A 
Parker  indeed,  careful  to  keep  the  fences."  The  Archbishop  did 
not  like  men  that  were  not,  to  use  his  own  epithet,  "  disciplinable." 


THE  BISHOPS'  BIBLE  91 

appointed  to  be  read  in  churches";  and  not  till  1573 
was  an  edition  of  Parker's  announced  as  '*  Set  foorth  by 
aucthoritie,"  and  this,  too,  by  episcopal^  not  royal 
authority.  The  support  of  Convocation  indeed  had 
never  been  wanting  to  the  new  version.  According  to 
the  "  Constitutions  and  Canons"  of  1571  it  was  enacted 
that  "  every  archbishop  and  bishop  should  have  at  his 
house  a  copy  of  the  Holy  Bible  of  the  largest  volume,  as 
lately  printed  in  London  .  .  .  and  that  it  should  be  placed 
in  the  hall  or  large  dining-room,  that  it  might  be  useful 
to  their  servants  or  to  strangers  " — an  order  that  was 
further  extended  to  each  cathedral,  and  as  far  as  possible 
to  all  churches.  1 

§  3.  Description  of  the  Bishops'  Bible.— The 

original  edition  of  the  Bishops'  Bible  was  a  splendid 
folio  set  forth  with  every  attraction  of  paper  and  printing,^ 
and  furnished  with  a  number  of  woodcuts,  a  description 
of  the  Holy  Land,  and  a  chart  of  St.  Paul's  journeys. 
The  title  was  striking  in  its  simplicity.      It  was  merely — 

The  Holie  Bible 

and  the  only  other  words  on  the  page  were  a  quotation 
in  Latin  from  Rom.  i. :  "  I  am  not  ashamed  of  the  Gospel 
of  Christ ;  for  it  is  the  power  of  God  unto  salvation,  to 
everyone  that  belie veth."  There  was  no  special  dedica- 
tion ;  but  in  the  centre  of  the  title-page  was  an  engraving 
of  Elizabeth,  and  portraits  of  the  Earl  of  Leicester  and  of 
Cecil  were  introduced  at  the  beginning  of  Joshua  and 
the  Psalms.  In  addition  to  other  prefatory  matter 
Cranmer's  Prologue  was  reprinted  from  the  Great  Bible, 
and  two  new  Prefaces  were  provided  by  Parker  himself 
for  the  Old  and  New  Testaments  respectively.  In  the 
first  of  these  the  Archbishop  dwelt  on  the  need  of  the 
present  revision,  while  emphasising  what  his  instructions 

1  By  the  same  canon,  Foxe's  Book  oy Martyrs  was  ordered  to  be 
set  up  in  the  same  places — a  wonderful  testimony  to  the  high  esteem 
in  which  it  was  held. 

'^  In  a  letter  to  Cecil,  the  Primate  draws  attention  to  the  fact 
that  "the  printer  hath  bestowed  his  thickest  paper  on  the  New 
Testament,  because  it  shall  be  most  occupied." 


92  THE  ENGLISH  BIBLE 

to  his  fellow-workers  had  already  made  clear — that  it  was 
intended  "  not  as  condemning  the  former  translation 
[the  Great  Bible],  which  was  followed  mostly  of  any 
other  translation  except  the  original  text."  He  aptly 
cited  St.  Augustine  to  the  effect  that  "  divers  translations 
many  times  have  made  the  harder  and  darker  sentences 
the  more  open  and  plain  "  ;  and  Fisher,  once  Bishop  of 
Rochester,  was  also  quoted  as  affirming  that  "many  things 
have  been  more  diligently  discussed,  and  more  clearly 
understanded  by  the  wits  of  these  latter  days  as  well 
concerning  the  Gospels  as  other  scriptures,  than  in  old 
times  they  were  .  .  .  who  can  doubt,  but  that  such  things 
as  remain  yet  unknown  in  the  Gospel,  shall  be  hereafter 
made  open  to  the  later  wits  of  our  posterity,  to  their 
clear  understanding  ?  " 

The  books  of  Scripture  were  classified  as  "some 
legal,  some  historical,  some  sapiential,  some  prophetical," 
which  in  the  New  Testament  at  any  rate  led  to  strange 
results;  for  why  should  the  Synoptic  Gospels  be  "  legal  " 
and  St.  John  and  the  Acts  "  historical "  ?  In  accordance 
also  with  one  of  Parker's  instructions  in  an  edition  in 
1574  "places  not  edifying"  were  marked,  "so  that  the 
reader  may  eschew  them  in  his  public  reading." 

At  the  end  of  the  Bible  was,  "A  Table  to  fynde  the 
Epistles  and  Gospels  read  in  the  Church  of  England  "  ; 
and  the  printer  was  stated  to  be  "  Richard  Jugge,  printer 
to  the  Queenes  Maiestie."  His  mark,  a  pelican  feeding 
her  young  with  her  blood,  illustrative  of  the  love  of 
Christ  for  His  people,  adorned  the  last  page. 

§  4-  Character  of  the  Translation. — The  basis 

of  the  work  thi-oughout  was  the  Great  Bible,  and  Arch- 
bishop Parker  had  further  laid  down,  it  will  be  remem- 
bered, that  this  was  to  be  altered  as  little  as  possible. 
As  might  be  expected,  however,  from  the  number  of 
scholars  employed,  this  instruction  was  very  variously 
understood,  and  in  some  sections  the  changes  introduced 
are  far  more  numerous  than  in  others.      • 

Thus  to  confine  ourselves  in  the  first  instance  to  the  Old 
Testament,  the  Historical  books  as  a  rule  follow  the  Great 


THE  BISHOPS'  BIBLE 


93 


Bible  very  closely  ;  but  in  the  Prophetical  books  there  is 
greater  variation,  many  of  the  changes  being  distinctly 
traceable  to  the  influence  of  the  Genevan  Bible.  The 
striking  thing  however  is,  not  that  so  many  improved 
Genevan  renderings  have  been  adopted,  as  that  so  many 
have  been  neglected.  And  yet  after  all,  in  the  circum- 
stances, this  was  only  natural.  The  Bishops  could  hardly 
be  expected  to  show  on  every  page  their  indebtedness 
to  the  very  version  they  were  seeking  to  supplant.  But 
at  the  same  time  it  is  obvious  that  this  unwillingness  to 
avail  themselves  of  the  undoubted  scholarship  of  the 
Genevan  exiles  seriously  marred  their  own  version,  and 
failed  to  secure  for  it  a  permanent  place.  To  illustrate 
this  we  may  print  a  short  extract  from  the  two  versions 
in  parallel  columns,  which  may  further  be  compared 
with  Coverdale's  version  as  given  above  on  pp.  53-4. 


Genevan  Bible,  1560 

1.  Who  will  believe  our  re- 
port :  and  to  whom  is  the  arm 
of  the  Lord  revealed  ? 

2.  But  he  shall  grow  up  before 
him  as  a  branch,  and  as  a  root 
out  of  a  dry  ground  :  he  hath 
neither  form  nor  beauty  :  when 
we  shall  see  him,  there  shall  be 
no  form  that  we  should  desire 
him. 

3.  He  is  despised  and  rejected 
of  men  :  he  is  a  man  full  of 
sorrows,  and  hath  experience  of 
infirmities,  we  hid  as  it  were 
our  faces  from  him  :  he  was  de- 
spised, and  we  esteemed  him 
not. 

4.  Surely  he  hath  borne  our 
infirmities,  and  carried  our  sor- 
rows :  yet  we  did  judge  him  as 
plagued,  and  smitten  of  God, 
and  humbled. 


Isaiah  liii.   1-5. 

Bishops'  Bible,  1568 
But  who  hath  given  credence 


unto  our  preaching ;  or  to  whom 
is  the  arm  of  the  Lord  known  ? 

For  he  did  grow  before  the 
Lord  like  as  a  branch,  and  as  a 
root  in  a  dry  ground  :  he  hath 
neither  beauty  nor  favour  ; 
when  we  look  upon  him  there 
shall  be  no  fairness  ;  we  shall 
have  no  lust  unto  him. 

He  is  despised  and  ab- 
horred of  men:  he  is  such  a 
man  as  hath  good  experience 
of  sorrows  and  infirmities:  we 
have  reckoned  him  so  vile, 
that  we  hid  our  faces  from 
him. 

Hovvbeit  he  only  hath  taken 
on  him  our  infirmity,  and  borne 
our  pains :  yet  we  did  judge 
him  as  though  he  were  plagued, 
and  cast  down  of  God. 


94  THE  ENGLISH  BIBLE 

5.   But  he  was   wounded   for  Whereas   he    [notwithstanding] 

our      transgressions,      he     was  was  wounded  for  our  offences, 

broken  for  our  iniquities  ;  the  and  smitten  for  our  wickedness  : 

chastisement  of  our  peace  was  for  the  pain  of  our  punishment 

upon  him,  and  with  his  stripes  was  laid  upon  him,  and  with  his 

we  are  healed.  stripes  are  we  healed. 

Beyond  the  general  light  that  is  cast  on  the  character 
of  their  version  by  the  above  comparison,  the  Bishops' 
renderings  in  this  passage  do  not  call  for  any  special 
remark.  Only  three  of  them  appear  to  be  in  any  sense 
original,  that  is,  not  directly  traceable  to  the  influence  of 
some  earlier  version — the  omission  of  the  last  clause  in 
ver.  3,  the  translation  of  "infirmity"  in  the  singular  in 
ver.  4,  and  the  omission  of  the  last  two  words  in  the  same 
verse — and  of  these  "  corrections  "  not  one  has  met  with 
acceptance.  This  is  indeed  the  general  fate  of  the  Bishops' 
original  emendations  in  the  Old  Testament.  "They 
stand  neglected,"  says  Dr.  Edgar,  "on  the  disused 
pages  of  the  Bishops'  version,  and  on  the  pages  of 
that  version  only."  At  the  same  time  it  is  only 
fair  to  add  that  we  owe  to  the  Bishops  such  happy  ex- 
pressions as  "  He  that  hath  a  boiuitifid  eye  shall  be 
blessed"  (Prov.  xxii.  9);  "Rend  your  heart,  and  not 
your  gar?nents^''  (Joel  ii.  13);  and  "Now  we  call  the 
proud  happy'"  (Mai.  iii.   15). 

When  we  turn  to  the  New  Testament  these  evidences 
of  a  fine  literary  instinct  are  still  more  numerous,  while 
many  passages  bear  traces  of  a  careful  and  independent 
study  of  the  Greek  original.  Thus  in  one  short  passage 
(Eph.  iv.  7-16)  Bishop  Westcott  finds  twenty-six  varia- 
tions from  the  Great  Bible,  of  which  no  less  than  sixteen 
are  new,  and  of  these  again  four  have  found  their  way 
into  our  own  A.V.  To  understand  rightly,  however, 
the  relation  of  the  Bishops'  version  to  the  A.V.  we 
must  study  it  not  in  the  1568  edition,  but  in  a  revised 
edition  which  was  issued  four  years  later,  and  which  in 
the  New  Testament  especially  contained  many  marked 
improvements.  In  the  following  extracts  we  shall  there- 
fore quote  from  it.     The  itaHcs  show  the  places  in  which 


THE  BISHOPS'  BIBLE  95 

the  Bishops  have  introduced  changes  from  the  Great  Bible 
of  1539.  The  comparison  with  the  A.V.  the  reader  can 
make  for  himself. 

John  x.  14-16  (Bishops'  Bible,  1572) 

14.  I  am  the  good  shepherd,  and  know  my  sheep, 
and  am  known  of  mine. 

15.  As  the  Father  knoweth  me,  even  so  know  I 
also  the  Father  ;  and  I  give  my  life  for  the  sheep, 

16.  And  other  sheep  I  have,  which  are  not  of  this 
fold  :  them  also  I  must  bring,  and  they  shall  hear  my 
voice,  and  there  shall  be  one  fold  [and]  one  shepherd. 

Heb.  xiii.  5-8  (Bishops'  Bible,  1572) 

5.  Let  your  conversation  be  without  covetousness 
beijig  conieni  with  such  things  as  ye  have  {add  already, 
Great  Bible).  For  he  hath  said  I  will  m  no  case  fail 
thee,  neither  forsake  thee. 

6.  So  that  we  may  boldly  say  The  Lord  is  my 
helper,  and  I  will  not  fear  what  man  may  do  unto 
me. 

7.  Remember  them  which  have  the  oversight  of 
you,  which  have  spoken  unto  you  the  word  of  God, 
zvhose  end  of  conversation  ye  considering,  follow  their 

faith. 

8.  Jesus  Christ  yesterday  and  to-day,  and  the  same 
{add  continueth  Great  Bible)  for  ever. 

The  Bishops'  rendering  of  ver.  7  in  the  last  extract 
may  serve  to  illustrate  the  only  other  point  in  their 
translation  to  which  we  can  draw  attention,  namely,  its 
occasional  cumbrousness  and  love  of  "mouth-filling" 
phrases.  Thus  their  translation  of  Psalm  xxiii.  begins  : 
"God  is  my  shepherd,  therefore  I  can  lack  nothing:  He 
will  cause  me  to  repose  myself  in  pasture  full  of  grass, 
and  He  will  lead  me  unto  calm  waters  "  ;  and  in  2  Cor. 
ix.  5,   the  Corinthians  are  exhorted  to   "prepare  your 


96  THE  ENGLISH  BIBLE 

fore-promised    beneficence,  that  it  might  be  ready  as  a 
beneficence  and  not  as  an  extortion."  ^ 

§  5-  Marginal  Notes.— The  marginal  notes  in  the 
Bishops'  Bible  are  not  so  numerous  as  in  the  Genevan, 
and  are  very  unevenly  distributed  through  the  different 
books.  The  majority  are  occupied  with  points  of  inter- 
pretation, but  a  few  are  doctrinal.  The  following 
examples  will  illustrate  both  classes  : — 

Gen.  ii.  19,  "Man  shewed  himself  lord  of  all 
beasts,  by  giving  them  names." 

Deut.  vii.  12,  "  This  covenant  is  grounded  upon  His 
free  grace,  therefore  in  recompensing  their  obedience 
He  hath  respect  to  His  mercy,  and  not  to  their  merits." 

Psa.  Ixviii.  4  {^^  His  name  Everlasting''^),  "Jah,  a 
name  of  God  that  signifieth  Him  to  be  always  and 
other  things  to  be  of  Him." 

Luke  iv.  29  {''Top  of  the  hiir),  "The  Greek 
readeth  brow  of  the  hill." 

Phil.  ii.  12,  "Our  health  hangeth  not  on  our 
works,  and  yet  are  they  said  to  work  out  their  health 
who  do  run  in  the  race  of  justice.  For  although  we 
be  saved  freely  in  Christ  by  faith,  yet  must  we  walk 
by  the  way  of  justice  unto  our  health." 

Of  these  notes  the  second,  like  many  others  through- 
out the  Bible,  is  taken  directly  from  the  Genevan  version. 
With  the  last  it  may  be  interesting  to  compare  the 
Genevan  annotation  on  the  same  passage  :  "Run forward 
in  that  race  of  righteousness  wherein  God  hath  freely 
placed  you  through  Jesus  Christ,  and  conducteth  you  by 
his  Spirit  to  walk  in  good  works,  and  so  to  make  your 
vocation  sure." 

§  6.  General  Estimate. — Of  the  Bishops'  Bible 

about  thirty    editions    in  all    were   published,    the    last 
appearing  in  1606  ;  but  along  with  the  Genevan  Bible, 

1  Closely  allied  to  this  is  the  Bishops'  habit  of  introducing  brief 
explanatory  clauses  within  brackets,  and  in  a  different  type,  as 
John  xviii.  \i{^'  And  Annas  sent  Christ  bound  unto  Caiaphas  the 
High  Priest "  )  ;  Eph.  ii.  5,  "  By  {whose)  grace  ye  are  saved." 


THE  BISHOPS'  BIBLE  97 


it  continued  in  use  for  some  time  afterwards. ^  It  owed 
its  position  however  rather  to  external  authority  than  to 
any  independent  merits  as  a  translation,  although  we  can 
hardly  go  to  the  length  of  a  recent  writer  in  describing 
it  as  "  the  most  unsatisfactory  and  useless  of  all  the  old 
translations."  2  We  may  rather  adopt  the  weighty  and 
guarded  words  of  Dr.  Moulton — he  is  speaking  of 
the  1572  New  Testament:  "The  verdict  of  the 
student  will  vary  according  to  the  portion  which  he  is 
examining.  Again  and  again  he  will  wonder  at  the 
retention  of  an  early  rendering  which  had  been  corrected 
by  a  later  translator,  or  the  preference  shown  for  a 
roundabout  phrase  ...  but  he  will  meet  with  many 
proofs  of  close  study  of  the  original  text,  and  an  earnest 
desire  to  represent  it  with  all  fairness  to  the  English 
reader." 

1  So  late  as  1621  Bishop  Andrews,  though  himself  one  of  the 
revisers  to  whom  we  owe  the  A.V.  of  161 1,  took  his  texts  from  the 
Bishops  Bible. 

•-'  Lovett,  The  Printed  English  Bible,  p.  120. 


98  THE  ENGLISH  BIBLE 


CHAPTER    XII 

THE  RHEIMS  AND  DOUAI  BIBLE 

I.  The  Rheims  New  Testament.  2.  Character  of  the 
translation.  3.  Marginal  Notes.  4.  Influence  on  the 
Authorised  Version.      5.   The  Douai  Old  Testament. 

As  we  have  already  seen,  the  Church  of  Rome  had  never 
looked  with  favour  on  the  translation  of  the  Bible  into 
English,  and  different  edicts  had  from  time  to  time  been 
issued  to  tiy  and  prevent  its  circulation.  In  spite,  how- 
ever, of  such  prohibitions  the  spread  of  the  Holy  Scrip- 
tures in  England  amongst  all  classes  of  the  population 
had  gone  steadily  on,  and  with  it,  in  the  eyes  of  Rome, 
an  alarming  increase  in  heresy.  It  was  resolved  there- 
fore to  tiy  a  change  of  policy,  and,  if  the  Bible  must 
be  read,  at  least  to  provide  the  faithful  with  a  version 
free  from  the  "partial  and  false  translations,"  by  which, 
according  to  Romish  Churchmen,  all  existing  versions 
were  disfigured.  Curiously  enough  this  version,  like  the 
immediately  preceding  Protestant  version  of  Geneva, 
was  produced  in  exile. 

At  the  beginning  of  Queen  Elizabeth's  reign  a  number 
of  English  Catholics  had  taken  refuge  at  Douai  in 
Flanders,  and  there  established  a  college  for  the  purpose 
of  training  agents  to  win  back  England  to  Roman 
Catholicism.  To  three  of  these  refugees  the  credit  of  the 
new  version  principally  belongs,  namely,  William  Allen, 
Gregory  Martin,  and  Richard  Bristow.  Allen,  who  was 
afterwards  created  a  cardinal,  and  who,  if  the  Armada 
had  succeeded,  was  to  have  been  Primate  of  England, 
may  be  looked  upon  as  the  moving  spirit  of  the  whole 


THE  RHEIMS  AND  DOUAI  BIBLE  99 

work;  Martin,  "an  excellent  linguist,  exactly  read  and 
versed  in  the  Holy  Scriptures,"  as  the  principal  translator ; 
and  Bristow  as  one  of  the  main  contributors  of  the  notes 
which  were  a  distinguishing  feature  of  the  version. 

§  I.  The  Rheims  New  Testament.— The  first 

part    of  the    new   translation   to   appear  was  the  New 
Testament,  which  was  published  in   1582    at    Rheims,  j^ 
whither  for  a  time,  owing  to  a  Huguenot  riot,  the  college 
had   been  removed. ^     It   bore  a  somewhat  formidable 
title  : — 

**  The  New  Testament  of  lesus  Christ,  translated 
faithfvlly  into  English  out  of  the  authentical  Latin, 
according  to  the  best  corrected  copies  of  the  same, 
diligently  conferred  with  the  Greeke  and  other  editions 
in  diuers  languages  :  with  Arguments  of  bookes  and 
chapters.  Annotations,  and  other  necessarie  helpes,  for 
the  better  vnderstanding  of  the  text,  and  specially  for 
the  discouerie  of  theCorrvptions  of  diuers  late  transla- 
tions, and  for  cleering  the  Controversies  in  religion,  of 
these  dales.      In  the  English  College  of  Rhemes." 

Then  came  this  verse  from  Psa.  cxviii,  in  Latin  and 
English:  *' Giue  me  vnderstanding,  and  I  wil  searche 
thy  law,  and  wil  keepe  it  with  my  whole  hart "  ; 
followed  by  a  quotation  from  St.  Augustine  also  in 
both  languages  :  "  Al  things  that  are  readde  in  holy 
Scriptures,  we  must  heare  with  great  attention,  to  our 
instruction  and  saluation  :  but  those  things  specially 
must  be  commended  to  memorie,  which  make  most 
against  Heretikes  :  whose  deceites  cease  not  to  circum- 
uent  and  beguile  al  the  weaker  sort  and  the  more 
negligent  persons." 

The  foregoing  sentence  from  St.  Augustine  indicates 
very  clearly  the  spirit  in  which  the  whole  work  was 
undertaken,  and  which  is  still  further  defined  in 
the  elaborate  Preface  to  the  Reader.  After  guard- 
ing against  the  idea  "that  the  holy  Scriptures  should 

1  It  was  restored  at  Douai  in  1593,  and  finally  located  in  Eng- 
land in  the  parish  of  Standon  in  Hertfordshire. 


THE  ENGLISH  BIBLE 


always  be  in  our  mother  tongue,"  and  affirming  that 
they  have  only  undertaken  their  present  work  "upon 
special  consideration  of  the  present  time,  state,  and 
condition  of  our  country,"  the  translators  extol  the 
wisdom  of  the  Church  in  neither  forbidding  utterly  nor 
authoritatively  commanding  the  use  of  any  Catholic  trans- 
lation. They  admit  that  the  decree  of  the  Council  of 
Trent  according  to  which  the  Scriptures  "may  not  be 
indifferently  read  of  all  men,"  cannot  any  longer  be  "so 
precisely  observed,  as  in  other  times  and  places  "  ;  but  at 
the  same  time  they  indignantly  deny  that  our  forefathers 
suffered  every  one  "that  had  a  little  Greek  or  Latin, 
straight  to  take  in  hand  the  holy  Testament ;  or  that  the 
translated  Bibles  into  the  vulgar  tongues,  were  in  the 
handsof  every  husbandman,  artificer,  prentice,  boys,  girls, 
mistress,  maid,  man.  .  .  .  No,  in  those  better  times 
men  were  neither  so  ill,  nor  so  curious  of  themselves, 
so  to  abuse  the  blessed  book  of  Christ  :  neither  was 
there  any  such  easy  means  before  printing  was  invented, 
to  disperse  the  copies  into  the  hands  of  every  man,  as 
now  there  is."  "  We  therefore,"  they  continue,  "  having 
compassion  to  see  our  beloved  countiymen,  with  ex- 
treme danger  of  their  souls,  to  use  only  such  profane 
translations  .  .  .  have  set  forth,  for  you  (benign  readers) 
the  New  Testament  to  begin  withal,  trusting  that  it 
may  give  occasion  to  you,  after  diligent  perusing  thereof, 
to  lay  away  at  least  such  their  impure  versions  as  hitherto 
you  have  been  forced  to  occupy." 

How  far  they  have  succeeded  in  this,  the  Rhemists 
modestly  add,  it  is  not  for  them  to  judge  ;  but,  to  guard 
against  error  in  every  way,  they  claim  to  have  at  least  been 
"veryprecise  and  religious  "  in  following  their  copy,  "  the 
old  vulgar  approved  Latin :  not  only  in  sense,  which  we 
hope  we  always  do,  but  sometimes  in  the  very  words  also 
and  phrases,  which  may  seem  to  the  vulgar  reader  and 
to  common  English  ears  not  yet  acquainted  therewith 
rudeness  or  ignorance  ;  but  to  the  discreet  Reader  that 
deeply  weigheth  and  considereth  the  importance  of  sacred 
words    and   phrases   .    .    .    reasonable   and   necessary." 


THE  RHEIMS  AND  DOUAI  BIBLE  loi 

A  few  examples  are  then  given  of  their  method  of 
translation,  and  attention  is  drawn  to  the  marginal 
notes  in  which  they  sometimes  give  the  Greek  rendering 
"when  the  sense  is  hard."  Finally  they  conclude  :  "  Thus 
we  have  endeavoured  by  all  means  to  satisfy  the  indiffer- 
ent reader,  and  to  help  his  understanding  every  way.  .  .  . 
Fare  well,  good  Reader,  and  if  we  profit  thee  any  whit  by 
our  poor  pains,  let  us  for  God's  sake  be  partakers  of 
thy  devout  prayers,  and  together  with  humble  and  con- 
trite heart  call  upon  our  Saviour  Christ  to  cease  these 
troubles  and  storms  of  His  dearest  spouse." 

§  2.  Character  of  the  Translation.— From  the 

above  abstract  of  the  Editors'  Preface  it  will  be  seen  that 
the  Rheims  Testament  was,  like  the  Wyclififite  versions, 
only  a  secondary  translation,  not  made,  that  is,  from  the 
original  Greek,  but  from  the  Vulgate,  or  Latin  translation 
of  it.  We  may  expect  therefore  to  find  both  the  excel- 
lences and  the  failings  of  this  old  version  reproduced 
— the  more  so  because  of  the  closeness,  "  word  for  word, 
and  point  for  point,"  with  which  it  was  followed. 

A  passage  which  we  have  already  cited  several  times 
will  illustrate  this  as  well  as  any  other,  besides  lending 
itself  for  comparison  with  earlier  versions. 

Phil.  ii.  5-1 1  (Rheims,  1582) 

5.  For  this  think  in  yourselves,  which  also  in 
Christ  Jesus, 

6.  Who  when  He  was  in  the  form  of  God,  thought 
it  no  robbery.  Himself  to  be  equal  to  God  ; 

7.  But  he  exinanited  Himself,  taking  the  form  of 
a  servant,  made  into  the  similitude  of  men,  and  in 
shape  found  as  man. 

8.  He  humbled  Himself,  made  obedient  unto 
death  :  even  the  death  of  the  cross. 

9.  For  the  which  thing  God  also  hath  exalted  Him, 
and  hath  given  Him  a  name  which  is  above  all 
names  : 

10.  That  in  the  name  of  Jesus  every  knee  bow  of 
the  celestials,  terrestrials,  and  infernals  : 


THE  ENGLISH  BIBLE 


II.  And  every  tongue  confess  that  our  Lord  Jesus 
Christ  is  in  the  glory  of  God  the  Father, 

The  result,  it  must  be  confessed,  if  on  the  whole  very 
accurate,  is  from  its  extreme  literalness  somewhat  stilted 
and  pedantic,  while  the  same  cause  leads  to  actual 
ambiguity  in  the  first  and  last  verses.  Many  more 
glaring  instances  of  this  last  fault  might  easily  be  cited. 
Thus  to  mention  only  one  or  two,  referred  to  by  the 
translators  themselves  :  in  John  ii.  4  we  find  our  Lord's 
question  rendered,  "  What  is  to  me  and  thee,  woman  ?  "  ; 
in  Eph.  vi.  12  the  last  clause  runs,  "The  spirituals  of 
wickedness  in  the  celestials "  ;  and  in  i  Pet.  ii.  2  the 
exhortation  takes  the  form,  "As  infants  even  now  born, 
reasonable,  milk  without  guile  desire  ye  " — a  rendering 
for  which  the  defence  is  offered  :  "  We  do  so  place 
'reasonable,'  of  purpose,  that  it  may  be  indifferent  both 
to  infants  going  before,  as  in  our  Latin  text :  or  to  milk 
that  followeth  after,  as  in  other  Latin  copies  and  in  the 
Greke." 
I  Closely  connected  with  this  literalness  is  the  number 
of  Latin  terms  which  the  Rhemists  employ,  so  that 
their  translation,  as  Fuller  puts  it,  in  turn  "needs  to  be 
translated."  Thus  in  the  passage  given  above  we  have 
such  a  word  as  "  exinanited,"  which  had  been  used  in 
no  previous  version,  and  has  fortunately  failed  to  keep  a 
place  in  any  subsequent  one.  Similarly  we  have  such 
renderings  as,  "Give  us  to-day  our  supersubstantial 
bread"  (Matt.  vi.  11);  "  He  was  assumpted  "  (Acts  i. 
2)  ;  "  Purge  the  old  leaven,  that  you  may  be  a  new 
paste,  as  you  are  azymes.  For  our  Pasche,  Christ,  is 
immolated  "  (i  Cor.  v.  7)  ;  "  Keep  the  good  deposiiiun  " 
\    (2  Tim.  i.  14).  1 

More  interesting  however  than  these  Latinised  terms, 
many    of   which    have    disappeared    from    the    revised 

1  A  table  containing  fifty-eight  terms  "not  familiar  to  the  vulgar 
reader  "  is  given  at  the  end  of  the  book  ;  but  many  of  these,  such  as 
"  victim,"  "gratis,"  "allegory,"  are  now  in  general  use.  It  would  he 
interesting  to  know  how  far  the  Rheims  Testament  was  responsible 
for  naturalising  them. 


THE  R  HE  I  MS  AND  DOUAI  BIBLE  103 

editions  of  the  Rheims  Testament  itself,  are  the 
renderings  in  which  the  translators  allow  their  theo- 
logical opinions  to  appear.  Thus  John  the  Baptist's 
message  runs,  "  Do  penance  :  for  the  kingdom  of  heaven  . 
is  at  hand"  (^^af^'iIii  2)  ;  and  Christ's  beatitude  is, 
"  Blessed  are  they  that  hunger  and  thirst  after  justice  : 
for  they  shall  have  their  fill"  (Matt.  v.  6),  the  rendering 
"justice  "  being  deliberately  chosen,  here  and  elsewhere 
throughout  the  New  Testament,  instead  of  "righteous- 
ness," because  it  was  imagined  that  by  the  latter  the 
Protestants  meant  to  suppress  justification  by  works. 
So  too  in  Luke  xxii.  20  we  read  of  the  "  chalice  "  instead 
of  the  "cup,"  to  favour  the  view,  so  their  Protestant 
critic  Dr.  Fulke  asserted,  "that  Christ  used  not  a 
common  cup,  usual  to  be  drunken  in  at  meat,  but  a 
consecrated  vessel  such  as  is  occupied  at  masse  "  ;  while 
in  Titus  iii.  5  "the  laver  of  regeneration"  takes  the 
place  of  the  Genevan  "the  washing  of  the  new  birth." 
Other  Rhemish  renderings  have  a  close  relation  to 
Scottish  ecclesiastical  nomenclature,  as  Luke  iii.  14, 
"  Be  content  with  your  stipends"  ;  or  Gal.  vi.  6,  "And 
let  him  that  is  catechized  in  the  word,  communicate  to 
him  that  catechizeth  him,  in  all  his  goods." 

§  3.  Marginal  Notes. — The  theological  bias,  which 
shows  itself  here  and  there  in  the  translation,  is  most 
unmistakably  present  in  the  marginal  notes  and  annota- 
tions, which,  like  the  famous  Genevan  notes,  although 
from  a  directly  opposite  standpoint,  are  largely  of  a 
doctrinal  and  polemical  character.  The  following  are 
examples :  — 

Matt.  vi.  24,  "  Two  Masters.  Two  religions,  God 
and  Baal,  Christ  and  Calvin,  Masse  and  Communion, 
the  Catholic  Church  and  Heretical  Conventicles. 
Let  them  mark  this  lesson  of  our  Saviour,  that  think 
they  may  serve  all  masters,  all  times,  all  religions. 
Again  the  two  masters  do  signify,  God  and  the 
world,  the  flesh  and  the  spirit,  justice  and  sin." 

Acts    iii.    I,    "This    maketh    for    distinction    of 


I04  THE  ENGLISH  BIBLE 

canonical  hours,  and  diversity  of  appointed  times 
to  pray." 

Acts  viii.  31,  "The  Scriptures  are  so  written  that 
they  cannot  be  understood  without  an  interpreter,  as 
easy  as  our  Protestants  make  them." 

2  Pet.  ii.  19,  "Who  ever  promised  more  liberty  to 
their  followers  than  Luther,  Calvin,  and  the  like, 
taking  away  penance,  fasting,  continency  or  chastity, 
keeping  of  vows,  necessity  of  good  works  (because 
faith  doth  all),  obedience  to  ecclesiastical  pastors  and 
councils,  and  such  like?" 

Occasionally,  however,  there  are  notes  of  a  more 
critical  character,  which  prove  that  the  translators, 
while  translating  from  the  Latin,  must  have  kept  the 
Greek  text  before  them  as  they  worked.  Thus  on  their 
rendering  of  Acts  xiii.  2,  "As  they  were  ministering," 
they  remark  :  "  If  we  should,  as  our  adversaries  do, 
boldly  turn  what  texts  we  list,  and  flee  from  one  lan- 
guage to  another  for  the  advantage  of  our  cause,  we 
might  have  translated  for  ministering^  sacrificing^  for  so 
the  Greek  doth  signify,  and  so  Erasmus  translated.  .  .  . 
But  we  keep  our  text,  as  the  translators  of  the  Scriptures 
should  do  most  religiously." 

The  careful  observance  of  the  definite  article  in  many 
places  where  previous  translators  had  neglected  it  points 
in  the  same  direction.  For  as  the  Latin  has  no  definite 
article,  this  can  only  have  come  from  an  independent 
study  of  the  Greek.  Examples  are  "  the  pinnacle " 
(Matt.  iv.  5);  "the  meat  .  .  .  the  raiment"  (Matt. 
vi.  25);  "the  lamp"  (John  v.  35);  "the  rest "  (Eph. 
ii.  3);  and  "the  white  robes"  (Rev.  vii.  13) — improve- 
ments, it  may  further  be  noted,  in  which  even  the  trans- 
lators of  our  own  A.V.  failed  to  follow  the  Rhemists, 
though  they  had  their  version  before  them. 

§  4.  Influence  on  the  Authorised  Version.— Of 

this  last  statement  there  is  abundant  proof  Though  the 
Rheims  New  Testament  was  not,  as  we  shall  see  directly, 
amongst  the  translations  recommended  to  King  James's 


THE  RHEIMS  AND  DOUAI  BIBLE         105 

revisers,  it  was  clearly  made  use  of.  From  it,  for 
example,  such  Latin  words  have  been  introduced  into 
our  version  as  "hymn"  (Matt.  xxvi.  30);  "decease" 
(Lukeix.  31)  ;  "separated"  (Rom.  i.  i)  ;  "impenitent" 
(Rom.  ii.  5)  ;  and  "contemptible"  (2  Cor.  x.  10).  Or 
to  confine  ourselves  to  a  single  Epistle.  In  the  short 
First  Epistle  of  John  the  following  familiar  phrases  are  all 
traceable  directly  to  the  influence  of  the  Rhemish 
version  :  * '  Confess  our  sins "  (i.  9)  where  previous 
versions  had  "knowledge"  or  "acknowledge";  "He 
is  the  propitiation"  (ii.  2)  instead  of  "He  it  is  that 
obtaineth  grace";  "the  unction"  (ii.  20)  instead  of 
"ointment";  and  "we  may  have  confidence"  (ii.  28) 
instead  of  "  we  may  be  bold." 

Other  examples  of  this  dependence  might  be  given 
were  it  necessary  ;  but  enough  has  been  said  to  show 
that  the  Rheims  New  Testament  is  entitled  to  a  place, 
even  if  it  be  not  a  very  prominent  one,  in  the  line  of 
ancestry  of  our  English  Bible.  With  an  appeal  that 
was  made  to  it  and  rejected  under  very  tragic  circum- 
stances, we  may  take  farewell  of  it. 

On  the  evening  before  her  execution,  Mary  Queen  of 
Scots,  laying  her  hand  on  a  copy  of  the  Rhemish  New 
Testament,  which  happened  to  be  on  her  work-table, 
took  a  solemn  oath  of  innocence.  The  Earl  of  Kent  at 
once  interposed  that  the  book  was  false,  and  that  conse- 
quently the  oath  was  of  no  value.  "Does  your  Lord- 
ship suppose,"  replied  the  Queen,  "  that  my  oath  would 
be  better,  if  I  swore  on  your  translation  in  which  I  do 
not  believe  ? " 

§5.  The  Douai  Old  Testament.— There  is  reason 
to  believe  that  the  translation  of  the  Old  Testament  had 
been  finished  even  before  that  of  the  New  Testament ; 
but  its  publication  was  delayed  until  1609-10  "  for  lack 
of  good  meanes,"  or,  as  the  translators  add,  "  our  poore 
estate  in  banishment."  The  title  of  the  completed  work, 
which  was  in  two  volumes,  began  : — 

"The  Holie  Bible  Faithfully  Translated  into  Eng- 
lish out  of  The  Avthenlical  Latin.      Diligently  con- 


io6  THE  ENGLISH  BIBLE 

fevred  with  the  Hebrew,  Greeke,  and  other  Editions 
in  diuers  languages," 

On  the  title-page  of  vol.  i.  was  the  verse  from  Isa. 
xii.  "You  shall  draw  waters  in  joy  out  of  the  Sauiours 
fountaines " ;  and  on  the  last  page  the  brief  note, 
"  We  have  already  found  some  faults  escaped  in  printing, 
but  fearing  there  be  more,  and  the  whole  volume  being 
over  long  to  be  examined  again,  we  pray  the  courteous 
reader  to  pardon  all  and  amend  them  as  they  occur." 
On  the  title-page  of  vol.  ii.  was  the  verse  from  2  Pet.  i. 
*'The  holie  men  of  God  spake,  inspired  with  the  Holy 
Ghost." 

There  is  again  an  address  "  To  the  right  well  beloved 
English  reader,"  in  which  the  merits  of  the  Latin  text 
are  freely  extolled.  It  is  preferred,  indeed,  even  to  the 
Hebrew  original,  which  has  been  "  foully  corrupted,"  so 
it  is  alleged,  by  the  Jews.  In  other  particulars  the 
address  presents  no  special  features,  and  the  same  may 
be  said  of  the  translation  generally.  We  find  again  the 
same  straining  after  an  extreme  literalness  that  met  us 
in  the  New  Testament,  and  the  same  constant  introduc- 
tion of  Latinised  terms.  This,  for  example,  is  how 
our  Psalm  xxiii.  was  rendered. 

Psalm  xxiii.  (Douai,  1609- 16 10) 

Our  Lord  ruleth  me,  and  nothing  shall  be  wanting 
to  me  :  in  place  of  pasture  there  He  hath  placed 
me.  Upon  the  water  of  refection  He  hath  brought 
me  up  :  He  hath  converted  my  soul.  He  hath  con- 
ducted me  upon  the  paths  of  justice,  for  His  name. 
For,  although  I  shall  walk  in  the  midst  of  the  shadow 
of  death,  I  will  not  fear  evils  :  because  Thou  art 
with  me.  Thy  rod  and  Thy  staff:  they  have  comforted 
me.  Thou  hast  prepared  in  my  sight  a  table,  against 
them  that  trouble  me.  Thou  hast  fatted  my  head 
with  oil  :  and  my  chalice  inebriating  how  goodly  is 
it!     And  Thy  mercy  shall  follow  me  all  the  days  of  my 


THE  R  HE  IMS  AND  DOUAI  BIBLE         107 

life  :  and  that  I  may  dwell  in  the  house  of  our  Lord, 

in  longitude  of  days. 

How  little  adapted  such  a  version  is  to  the  purposes 
of  devotion  is  self-evident ;  while  the  general  faultiness 
of  the  translation  of  the  Douai  Psalter  cannot  be 
wondered  at  when  we  keep  in  view  that  it  is  a  transla- 
tion from  a  corrupt  Latin  text,  which  in  its  turn  was  an 
indifferent  translation  from  the  Greek,  and  not  from  the 
original  Hebrew. 

On  the  Douai  Old  Testament,  however,  we  need  not 
further  dwell.  As  it  was  not  published  till  1610,  it  can 
have  had  little  or  no  influence  on  our  Authorised  Ver- 
sion, which  appeared  in  the  following  year.  To  the 
history  of  that  version  we  must  now  turn. 


io8  THE  ENGLISH  BIBLE 


CHAPTER    XIII 

THE    AUTHORISED    VERSION — HISTORY    OF    THE 
UNDERTAKING 

I.   Origin  of  the  Authorised  Version.     2.   Work  of  trans- 
lation.     3.    Title    and    Contents.       4.    The    Preface. 

5.  Marginal    Notes — References — Headings — Italics. 

6.  In  what  sense  authorised. 

At  the  close  of  the  sixteenth  century,  leaving  out  of  sight 
the  older  translations,  we  are  met  with  three  Protestant 
versions  of  the  Bible  in  more  or  less  general  use.  There 
was  the  Great  Bible  of  Henry  VIII. ,  still  to  be  seen 
chained  to  the  desk  in  many  country  churches  ;  there  was 
the  Genevan  Bible,  the  favourite  Bible  of  the  people  ; 
and  there  was  the  Bishops'  Bible,  supported  by  ecclesi- 
astical authority.  Such  a  state  of  things  could  not  well 
continue,  and  we  might  naturally  have  expected  a  general 
movement  on  the  part  of  the  clergy  or  the  people  towards 
securing  greater  uniformity.  So  far  however  as  we  can 
learn  no  such  movement  took  place,  and  it  was  left 
to  a  casual  utterance  at  a  Conference  summoned  for  a 
different  purpose  to  start  the  idea  of  the  version  which 
was  gradually  to  supersede  all  its  rivals,  and  for  two 
hundred  and  fifty  years  hold  its  place  unchallenged  as 
the  Bible  of  all  English-speaking  peoples. 

§  I.  Origin  of  the  Authorised  Version.— King 

James  I.,  on  succeeding  to  the  throne  of  England  in  1603, 
found  himself  face  to  face  with  two  great  parties  in  the 
Church.  There  was  the  High  Church  or  Ritualistic 
party,  and  there  was  the  party  of  the  Puritans,  who  were 
continually  complaining  of  certain  grievances  to  which 


THE  AUTHORISED   VERSION  109 

they  said  they  were  subjected.  In  the  great  "  Millenary 
Petition  "  presented  to  the  King  on  his  way  to  London, 
and  signed  by  several  hundreds  of  clergy,  "groaning 
under  a  common  burden  of  human  rites  and  ceremonies," 
these  grievances  found  distinct  voice.  Accordingly  one 
of  James'  first  acts  was  to  summon  a  Conference  which 
met  at  Hampton  Court  Palace  on  the  14th,  i6th,  and 
1 8th  of  Januaiy  1604,  to  hear  and  determine  "things 
pretended  to  be  amiss  in  the  Church." 

On  most  points  the  Puritans  can  hardly  have  been  satis- 
fied with  the  result  of  the  Conference  ;  but  in  one,  for  us, 
vitally  important  particular  the  King  acceded  to  their 
wishes.  During  the  second  day's  proceedings,  in  the 
course  apparently  of  some  general  conversation  on  a  por- 
tion of  the  Apocryphal  Books,  Dr.  Reynolds,  the  Puritan 
leader,  threw  out  the  suggestion  "that  there  might  be  a 
new  translation  of  the  Bible  because  those  which  were 
allowed  in  the  reign  of  King  Henry  VHI.  and  Edward  VI. 
were  corrupt  and  not  answerable  to  the  truth  of  the  ori- 
ginal." The  instances  of  mistranslation  which  he  cited  in 
support  of  this  allegation  were  neither  numerous  nor  im- 
portant ;  and  we  can  hardly  wonder  at  the  grumble  of  the 
Bishop  of  London,  that  "if  every  man's  humour  should 
be  followed,  there  would  be  no  end  of  translating."  But 
the  King  was  of  a  different  mind.  He  had  always 
delighted  in  theological  disputations,  and  had  even  at 
one  time  commenced  a  new  translation  of  the  Psalms 
himself.  Reynolds'  proposal  therefore  quite  fell  in  with 
his  views,  and  he  expressed  the  wish  that  "  some  especial 
pains  should  be  taken  in  that  behalf  for  one  uniform 
translation  ;  professing  that  he  could  never  yet  see  a 
Bible  well  translated  in  English,  but  the  worst  of  all  his 
Majesty  thought  the  Geneva  to  be."  James  further 
proposed  that  the  new  translation  should  Idc  undertaken 
by  "  the  best  learned  in  both  the  universities,  after  them 
to  be  reviewed  by  the  bishops  and  the  chief  learned  of  the 
Church  ;  from  them  to  be  presented  to  the  Privy  Council ; 
and  lastly  to  be  ratified  by  his  royal  authority  ;  and  so 
this  whole  Church  to  be  bound  unto  it  and  none  other." 


THE  ENGLISH  BIBLE 


On  the  suggestion  of  the  Bishop  of  London  he  gave  this 
caveat  '*  that  no  marginal  notes  should  be  added,"  having 
found,  so  he  said,  in  a  Genevan  Bible  given  him  by  an 
English  lady,  "some  notes  very  partial,  untrue,  seditious, 
and  savouring  too  much  of  dangerous  and  traitorous 
conceits."  In  evidence  he  pointed  to  the  notes  on 
Exod.  i.  19,  which  "alloweth  disobedience  unto  the 
King";  and  on  2  Chron.  xv.  16,  which  "  taxeth  Asa  for 
deposing  his  mother  only  ;  and  not  killing  her." 

It  is  impossible  to  believe  that  James'  acquaintance 
with  the  Genevan  version  was  so  recent  as  this  account 
pretends.  On  the  contrary,  it  was  the  Bible  in  the  use 
of  which,  in  Scotland,  he  had  been  brought  up,  and  on 
portions  of  which  he  had  actually  published  certain 
expositions.  At  the  same  time  his  dislike  to  its  notes 
seems  to  have  been  genuine,  and  probably  tended  as  much 
as  anything  else  to  his  persevering  in  the  new  undertaking. 
For  a  few  months  later  we  find  him  writing  to  Bancroft, 
then  representing  the  See  of  Canterbury,  announcing  that 
he  had  appointed  (probably  at  the  suggestion  of  the  Uni- 
versities) "  certain  learned  men,  to  the  number  of  four  and 
fifty,  for  the  translating  of  the  Bible,"  and  requiring  him 
to  provide  for  their  recompense  by  church  preferment. 
The  immediate  expenses  of  the  undertaking  Bancroft 
was  also  commissioned  to  see  to,  for  though  His  Majesty, 
so  it  was  said,  was  very  ready  "of  his  most  princely 
disposition  "  to  have  borne  these,  "  some  of  my  lords,  as 
things  now  go,  did  hold  it  inconvenient. " 

The  new  version,  accordingly,  though  it  bears  his 
name,  cost  the  King  himself  nothing.  And,  as  a  matter 
of  fact,  the  only  money  recompense  that  any  of  the 
translators  received  was  the  sum  of  thirty  shillings  a 
week  which  the  Company  of  Stationers  ^  paid  to  each  of 
the  scholars  engaged  in  the  final  revision. 

§  2.  Work  of  Translation. — The  Hampton  Court 
Conference  had  met  in  the  beginning  of  1604,  but  three 
years  seem  to  have  elapsed  before  the  work  was  formally 

1  According  to  another  account  the  money  was  paid  by  Barker, 
the  printer. 


THE  AUTHORISED    VERSION 


entered  upon,  and  then,  from  whatever  cause,  we  hear 
only  of  forty-seven  instead  of  fifty-four  translators,  A 
full  list  of  their  names  and  the  special  portions  assigned 
to  each  company  will  be  found  in  any  of  the  larger 
Bible  histories.  Plere  it  is  enough  to  notice  that  amongst 
the  translators  were  many  men  justly  famed  for  their 
scholarship,  such  as  Launcelot  Andrews,  of  whom  it  was 
said  that  he  might  have  been  "interpreter-general  at 
Babel";  Edward  Lively,  reputed  "one  of  the  best 
linguists  in  the  world"  ;  Miles  Smith,  the  author  of  the 
Preface,  who  "  had  Hebrew  at  his  finger-ends  "  ;  and 
Andrew  Downs,  described  as  "one  composed  of  Greek 
and  industry." 

Fourteen  rules  had  been  drawn  up  for  the  translators' 
guidance,  to  the  most  important  of  which  we  shall  have 
occasion  to  refer  in  connection  with  the  different  points 
with  which  they  deal ;  but  of  the  general  history  of  the 
undertaking  almost  nothing  is  known.  "  Never,"  says 
Dr.  Scrivener,  who  is  our  principal  authority  on  all  that 
concerns  this  version,  "was  a  great  enterprise  like  the 
production  of  our  Authorized  Version  carried  out  with 
less  knowledge  handed  down  to  posterity  of  the 
labourers,  their  method  and  order  of  working."  i  In 
accordance,  however,  with  the  instructions  laid  down, 
the  translators  were  divided  into  six  companies,  two 
meeting  at  Westminster,  Cambridge,  and  Oxford  re- 
spectively, and  after  each  company  had  gone  over  its 
own  portion,  the  result  went  the  round  of  the  other  com- 
panies "to  be  considered  of  seriously  and  judiciously." 
The  whole  was  then  finally  revised  by  a  select  committee 
of  six,  or,  according  to  another  account,  twelve, 
who  met  in  London  for  the  purpose.  To  this  last 
revision  an  often -quoted  anecdote  is  probably  to  be 
referred.  "The  translation  in  King  James'  time  took 
an  excellent  way.  That  part  of  the  Bible  was  given 
to  him  who  was  most  excellent  in  such  a  tongue 
(as  the  Apocrypha  to  Andrew  Downs),  and  then  they 
met  together,  and  one  read  the  Translation,  the  rest 
1  The  Authorized  Edition  of  the  English  Bible,  p.  9. 


THE  ENGLISH  BIBLE 


holding  in  their  hands  some  Bible,  either  of  the  learned 
Tongues,  or  French,  Spanish,  Italian,  etc.  ;  if  they 
found  any  fault  they  spoke,  if  not  he  read  on."  Accord- 
ing to  the  translators'  own  account  the  whole  work  was 
carried  through  in  two  years  and  three-quarters — no 
very  long  time  for  so  important  an  undertaking. 

§  3.  Title  and  Contents. — The  full  title  of  the 

new  Bible  ran  as  follows  : — 

"The  Holy  Bible,  conteyning  the  Old  Testament 
and  the  New  :  Newly  Translated  out  of  the  Originall 
tongues :  with  the  former  Translations  diligently 
compared  and  reuised  by  his  Maiesties  Speciall 
Comandement.  Appointed  to  be  read  in  Churches. 
Imprinted  at  London  by  Robert  Barker,  Printer  to 
the  King's  Most  Excellent  Majestic.  Anno  Dom. 
1611." 

After  the  title-page  came  the  fulsome  Dedication  to 
King  James,  which  still  appears  in  all  our  modem  editions, 
followed  by  "  The  Translators  to  the  Reader,"  a  noble 
Preface  of  considerable  length,  which  unfortunately  is  al- 
most universally  omitted.  Then  we  have  a  Kalendar  ; 
Almanack  for  xxxix  yeares,  etc.  ;  Table  of  Proper  Lessons, 
etc.;  and  "The  Names  and  Order  of  all  the  Books." 
In  many  copies  there  was  inserted  a  map  of  Canaan,  and 
also  a  copy  of  "  Genealogies  of  Holy  Scripture,"  by  one 
John  Speed,  to  whom  the  King  had  sold  the  right  of 
inserting  his  work  in  the  Authorised  Version.  At  the 
bottom  of  the  last  page  was  the  single  word  FINIS. 

§  4.  The  Preface. — The  Translators'  Preface  is  a 
singularly  interesting  document,  generally  understood  to 
be  chiefly  the  work  of  Dr.  Miles  Smith.  To  do  it 
justice  it  must  be  studied  in  its  entirety,  but  the  follow- 
ing brief  abstract  may  give  an  idea  of  its  character.  ^ 

After  some   introductory  remarks  on   the  calumnies 
that   follow  all   reformers   and    revisers,   the   translators 
pass  to  a  beautiful  eulogy  in  praise  of  the  Holy  Scrip- 
tures.     "But    now,"   they    ask,    "what    piety    without 
1  It  has  been  reprinted  (price  One  Penny)  by  the  S.P.C.K. 


THE  AUTHORISED   VERSION 


truth  ?  What  truth,  what  saving  truth,  without  the 
word  of  God  ?  What  word  of  God,  whereof  we  may 
be  sure,  without  the  Scripture  ?  The  Scriptures  we  are 
commanded  to  search.  ...  If  we  be  ignorant,  they 
will  instruct  us  ;  if  out  of  the  way,  they  will  bring  us 
home  ;  if  out  of  order,  they  will  reform  us ;  if  in  heavi- 
ness, comfort  us  ;  if  dull,  quicken  us  ;  if  cold,  inflame 
us.  .  .  .  And  what  marvel  ?  the  original  thereof  being 
from  heaven,  not  from  earth  ;  the  author  being  God, 
not  man  ;  the  inditer,  the  Holy  Spirit,  not  the  wit  of 
the  Apostles  or  Prophets  ;  the  penmen,  such  as  were 
sanctified  from  the  womb,  and  endued  with  a  principal 
portion  of  God's  Spirit." 

"But  how,"  they  continue,  "shall  men  meditate  in 
that  which  they  cannot  understand  ?  How  shall  they 
understand  that  which  is  kept  close  in  an  unknown 
tongue  ?  .  .  .  Translation  it  is  that  openeth  the  window, 
to  let  in  the  light  ;  that  breaketh  the  shell,  that  we  may 
eat  the  kernel ;  that  pulleth  aside  the  curtain,  that  we 
may  look  into  the  most  holy  place."  A  long  account  of 
previous  translations  follows,  and  the  labours  of  English 
workers  in  this  field  are  held  to  be  deserving  of  "  ever- 
lasting remembrance."  "Yet  for  all  that,"  they  say, 
"as  nothing  is  begun  and  perfected  at  the  same  time, 
and  the  latter  thoughts  are  thought  to  be  the  wiser  :  so, 
if  we  building  upon  their  foundation  that  went  before 
us,  and  being  holpen  by  their  labours,  do  endeavour  to 
make  that  belter  which  they  left  so  good  ;  no  man,  we 
are  sure,  hath  cause  to  mislike  us  ;  they,  we  persuade 
ourselves,  if  they  were  alive,  would  thank  us."  Certain 
cavils  of  their  adversaries  are  then  met,  and  after  again 
alluding  to  their  own  purpose  in  translating,  the  trans- 
lators conclude  :  "  It  remaineth  that  we  commend  thee 
(gentle  Reader)  to  God,  and  to  the  Spirit  of  His  grace, 
which  is  able  to  build  further  than  we  can  ask  or  think. 
He  removeth  the  scales  from  our  eyes,  the  vail  from  our 
hearts,  opening  our  wits  that  we  may  understand  His 
word,  enlarging  our  hearts,  yea,  correcting  our  affections, 
that  we  may  love  it  above  gold  and  silver,  yea,  that  we 

8 


114  THE  ENGLISH  BIBLE 

may  love  it  to  the  end.  .  .  .  The  Lord  work  a  care  and 
conscience  in  us  to  know  Him  and  serve  Him,  that  we 
may  be  acknowledged  of  Him  at  the  appearing  of  our 
Lord  JESUS  CHRIST,  to  whom  with  the  Holy  Ghost 
be  all  praise  and  thanksgiving.     Amen." 

Other  statements  from  the  Preface  will  meet  us 
again  in  speaking  of  the  character  of  the  translation  :  in 
the  meantime  we  may  notice  one  or  two  general  features 
of  the  version. 

§  5.  Marginal  Notes— References— Headings— 

Italics. — It  will  be  remembered  that  when  the  question 
of  a  new  version  was  first  mooted  the  King  forbade 
all  such  annotations  as  had  appeared  in  the  Genevan 
Bible  ;  and  to  the  same  effect  the  sixth  instruction  to 
the  translators  enjoined,  "No  marginal  notes  at  all  to 
be  affixed,  but  only  for  the  explanation  of  the  Hebrew 
or  Greek  words  which  cannot,  without  some  circum- 
locution, so  briefly  and  fitly  be  expressed  in  the  text." 
The  first  part  of  this  rule  was  closely  followed,  and  all 
notes  of  a  theological  or  controversial  character  were 
rigidly  excluded  ;  but  at  the  same  time  the  permission 
extended  in  its  latter  part  was  liberally  interpreted  and 
taken  advantage  of.  In  the  original  edition  of  our 
Authorised  Version,  excluding  the  Apocrypha,  over  seven 
thousand  brief  Marginal  Notes  are  to  be  found, 1  of 
which  fully  two-thirds  in  the  Old  Testament  give  the 
more  literal  meaning  of  the  Hebrew  or  Chaldee,  while 
in  the  New  Testament  about  the  same  proportion 
suggest  alternative  translations  of  the  Greek.  It  has 
been  said  that  the  marginal  renderings  of  the  Authorised 
Version  are  as  a  rule  more  to  be  trusted  than  those  in  the 
text  ;  but  with  this  verdict  no  scholar  now  will  prob- 
ably be  found  to  agree.  At  the  same  time  the  excellence 
of  many  of  them  is  shown  by  their  having  been  trans- 
ferred by  the  recent  revisers  from  the  margin  to  the 
text.2    Others  of  the  notes  are  helpful  for  the  information 

*  Many  more  notes,  such  as  the  historical  ones  at  the  end  of 
Dan.  ix.,  have  been  interpolated  in  subsequent  editions,  and  ought 
to  be  distinguished  by  brackets  or  in  some  other  way. 

^  Examples  which  can  be  readily  verified  will  be  found  at  Gen. 


THE  AUTHORISED   VERSION  115 

they  convey  regarding  distances,  weights,  and  measures. 
But  the  usefulness  of  the  notes  as  a  whole  is  much  marred 
by  their  being  so  mixed  up  with  the  host  of  marginal 
references,  as  in  consequence  to  be  frequently  lost  sight 
of  by  the  reader.  ^ 

These  References  are  computed  not  to  have  ex- 
ceeded nine  thousand  in  161 1,  though  in  some  modern 
editions  they  have  risen  to  the  enormous  total  of  sixty 
thousand.  They  are  all,  at  least  in  the  original  edition 
with  which  alone  we  are  at  present  concerned,  intended  to 
facilitate  the  study  of  the  Bible  by  comparing  one  passage 
with  another,  and  as  a  rule  they  fulfil  that  purpose  admir- 
ably. Occasionally  however  the  reference  is  obscure,  if 
not  actually  misleading,  as  when  John  iv.  24,  "  God  is 
a  Spirit ;  and  they  that  worship  him  must  worship  him 
in  spirit  and  in  truth,"  is  paralleled  with  2  Cor.  iii.  17, 
"Now  the  Lord  is  that  Spirit  :  and  where  the  Spirit  of 
the  Lord  is,  there  is  liberty." 

Headings  of  chapters  and  columns  had  existed  both 
in  the  Genevan  and  in  the  Great  and  Bishops'  Bibles  ; 
but  the  translators  of  the  Authorised  Version  introduced 
an  entirely  new  set,  which  with  only  twelve  exceptions 
have  kept  their  place  in  most  of  the  Bibles  now  in  use. 
Thus  for  the  pithy  heading  to  Jer.  x.  21  in  the  Bishops' 
Bible,  *'0f  evil  Curates,"  we  have  now  "He  lamenteth 
the  spoil  of  the  tabernacle  by  foolish  pastors  "  ;  while 
the  quaint  column-heading  of  the  Genevan  at  Mark  vi., 
"Inconvenience  of  dancing,"  has  given  place  to  "John 
the  Baptist  beheaded." 

One  other  point  which  may  be  fittingly  noticed  here 
is  the  use  of  Italics  in  the  Authorised  Version  to  mark 
words  not  directly  represented  in  the  original.  In 
this  the  translators  of  161 1  were  simply  following  the 
example   already  set  them    in    previous   versions,  more 

xxi.  33  ;  xxxi.  19  ;  Lev.  xvi.  8  ;  Psa.  xxiv.  6  ;  Ezek.  xxix.  10 ;  Matt. 
ii.  II  ;  iv.  12;  V.  21  ;  Mk.  i.  4;  vi.  27;  vii.  3;  John  x.  24 ;  i  Cor. 
vii.  15  ;  xi.  2 ;  Eph.  ii.  10 ;  Heb.  ii.  16  ;  vii.  28  ;  Rev.  xiii.  i. 

'  In  the  Annotated  Paragraph  Bible,  published  by  the  Religions 
Tract  Society,  the  notes  are  printed  separately  at  the  foot  of  the 
page. 


ii6  THE  ENGLISH  BIBLE 

particularly  in  the  Genevan,  and  the  practice  has  been 
warmly  commended  as  serving  to  mark  distinctly  that 
the  work  is  a  translation.  But  against  this  it  may  be 
urged  that  if  the  words  italicised  do  no  more  than  repre- 
sent the  sense  of  the  original,  there  is  no  reason  for 
specially  distinguishing  them  :  while,  if  they  go  beyond 
that,  they  are  of  the  nature  of  a  gloss  or  explanation, 
and  have  no  right  to  be  there  at  all.  In  any  case  if 
italics  are  to  be  admitted  it  is  much  to  be  regretted  that 
greater  care  was  not  taken  in  1611  to  secure  uniformity 
of  practice  in  their  use.  In  no  particular  have  correc- 
tions in  subsequent  editions  been  more  required.  One 
example  must  suffice.  In  i  Pet.  iv.  11,  "  lei  him  speak" 
is  italicised  in  161 1  ;  but  the  clause  immediately  follow- 
ing, which  stands  on  exactly  the  same  footing,  ^^  lei  him 
do  it,''^  not  until  1629. 

§  6.  In  what  sense  authorised. — There  remains 
still  the  question,  In  what  sense  can  we  speak  of  this 
new  version  as  the  Authorised  Version  ?  The  name 
^  has  been  sometimes  traced  to  the  words  on  the  title-page, 
"Appointed  to  be  read  in  Churches,"  as  if  its  use 
was  at  once  formally  enjoined  by  the  King,  as  soon 
as  it  was  published.  But,  whatever  the  words  may 
mean,  "no  evidence  has  yet  been  produced  to  show  that 
the  version  was  ever  publicly  sanctioned  by  Convocation 
or  by  Parliament,  or  by  the  Privy  Council,  or  by  the 
King."  The  Bishops'  Bible,  so  long  as  the  old  copies 
lasted,  continued  to  be  used  in  the  churches :  the 
Genevan  was  for  still  a  generation  the  favourite  in  the 
home.  Only  slowly,  and  by  the  force  of  superior 
merit,  did  King  James'  version  attain  the  position 
which  it  now  enjoys.  It  became  the  "authorised" 
version  simply  because  it  was  the  best. 


THE  AUTHORISED   VERSION  117 


CHAPTER    XIV 

THE    AUTHORISED    VERSION — CHARACTER    OF    THE 
TEXT 

I.  The  Authorised  Version  a  revision  rather  than  a  transla- 
tion. 2.  Dependence  on  earlier  versions.  3.  General 
excellence  and  reception  of  the  Authorised  Version. 

From  the  foregoing  general  account  of  the  Authorised 
Version  we  must  turn  to  the  character  of  the  text,  and 
notice  briefly  one  or  two  points  that  bring  out  its 
peculiar  excellences. 

§  I.  The  Authorised  Version  a  Revision  rather 

than  a  Translation. — From  the  inscription  on  the 
title-page,  "  Newly  translated  out  of  the  Originall 
Tongues,"  we  might  be  led  to  think  that  the  Authorised 
Version  was  an  altogether  independent  translation  ;  but 
the  words  must  be  understood  as  directly  qualified  by 
what  follows,  "with  the  former  Translations  dili- 
gently compared  and  reuised.''  Our  received  version 
was  in  fact,  like  its  immediate  predecessors,  a  revision 
rather  than  a  translation.  The  King  himself  showed 
that  he  contemplated  nothing  else  when  in  his  opening 
instruction  he  laid  down  :  "The  ordinary  Bible,  read  in 
the  Church,  commonly  called  the  Bishops'  Bible,  to  be 
followed,  and  as  little  altered  as  the  truth  of  the  Original 
will  permit."  While  the  men  engaged  in  the  work 
bear  testimony  to  the  same  effect:  "Truly,  good 
Christian  Reader,  we  never  thought  from  the  begin- 
ning that  we  should  need  to  make  a  new  translation,  nor 
yet  to  make  of  a  bad  one  a  good  one  .  .  .  but  to 
make  a  good  one  better,  or  out  of  many  good  ones  one 


ii8  THE  ENGLISH  BIBLE 

principal  good  one,  not  justly  to  be  excepted  against ; 
that  hath  been  our  endeavour,  that  our  mark." 

So  far,  therefore,  from  being  dissociated  from  previ- 
ous versions,  the  Authorised  Version  only  represents  a 
fresh  stage  in  the  process  of  polishing  and  correcting 
which  our  English  version  of  the  Scriptures  had  been 
undergoing  from  the  days  of  Tindale.  Based  upon  the 
Bishops'  Bible,  it  reached  back  through  that  to  the 
Great  Bible  of  1539,  and  thence  to  Matthew's  Bible  of 
1537  ;  this  in  its  turn  was  derived  from  the  Coverdale 
Bible  of  1535,  in  the  composition  of  which  Tindale's 
versions  played  so  large  a  part.  In  other  words,  the 
Authorised  Version  is  a  revision  five  times  revised. 

In  this  work  of  revision  King  James'  translators 
naturally  depended  in  the  first  instance  upon  a  careful 
comparison  of  the  Bishops'  renderings  with  the  original 
Hebrew  and  Greek.  "These,"  in  their  own  words, 
"  are  the  two  golden  pipes,  or  rather  conduits,  where- 
through the  olive  branches  empty  themselves  into  the 
gold.  ...  If  truth  be  to  be  tried  by  these  tongues, 
then  whence  should  a  translation  be  made,  but  out  of 
them?"  In  consequence  we  find  in  the  Authorised 
Version  many  exact  and  literal  renderings  now  intro- 
duced for  the  first  time,  as  when  in  Isa.  liii.  12  the 
Hebrew  verb  in  the  first  clause  is  translated  "divide" 
instead  of  as  in  the  Bishops'  Bible  "give"  ;  or  in  Heb. 
iv.  I  the  participial  clause  gets  its  true  meaning  "a 
promise  being  left  us,"  not  "forsaking  the  promise," 
as  in  the  earlier  versions.  Apart  too  from  the  correction 
of  actual  errors  the  translators  show  their  clear  grasp  of 
the  original  by  many  graphic  turns  of  expression,  as  in 
this  same  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews — "  Captain  of  their 
salvation"  (ii.  10);  "Let  us  labour^  therefore,  to  enter 
into  that  rest"  (iv.  11);  and  "The  sin  which  doth  so 
easily  beset  tis''''  (xii.   i). 

§  2.  Dependence    on    earlier  Versions.  —  On 

the  whole,  however,  to  return  to  the  relation  of  the 
Authorised  Version  to  earlier  English  versions,  its 
points  of  agreement  with  them,  considered  collectively. 


THE  AUTHORISED   VERSION  119 

are  more  noticeable  than  its  divergences.  Wherever 
King  James'  translators  found  what  seemed  to  them  a 
specially  happy  rendering  they  appropriated  it,  so  that 
their  work  became  a  kind  of  mosaic  of  the  best  results 
of  previous  versions.  In  doing  this  they  were  again 
only  carrying  out  the  King's  wishes,  for  his  fourteenth 
instruction  especially  provided  :  "These  translations  to 
be  used  when  they  agree  better  with  the  text  than  the 
Bishops'  Bible :  Tindale's,  Matthew's,  Coverdale's, 
Whitchurch's  [the  Great  Bible,  so  named  from  one  of  its 
printers],  Geneva."  And  one  of  the  most  interesting 
exercises  of  the  study  in  which  we  have  been  engaged  is 
to  take  a  passage  of  the  Authorised  Version,  and  to 
trace  back  its  words  and  phrases  to  their  different 
sources.  The  short  extracts  scattered  through  our 
pages  will  provide  the  reader  with  a  certain  amount  of 
material  for  doing  this  ;  but  it  may  be  well  again  to 
draw  pointed  attention  to  two  versions,  which,  though 
not  occupying  places  in  the  direct  line  of  descent  of  the 
Authorised  Version,  were  largely  made  use  of  by  its 
translators.  These  were  the  Genevan  and  Rhemish 
versions. 

It  may  appear  strange  that  the  Genevan  Bible  should 
have  exercised  any  influence  on  the  new  version  when 
we  remember  that  the  King  had  already  condemned 
it  as  the  worst  of  all  translations ;  but  the  fact  is 
beyond  dispute.  Thus,  for  example.  Dr.  Westcott  has 
pointed  out  that  of  the  variations  from  the  Bishops' 
Bible  in  Isa.  liii.  "about  seven  -  eighths  are  due  to 
the  Genevan  version,"  either  alone  or  in  agreement 
with  one  of  the  Latin  versions.  And  though  he  warns 
us  that  this  is  an  extreme  instance,  he  adds  that  it 
"  only  represents  on  an  exaggerated  scale  the  general 
relation  in  which  the  Authorised  Version  stands  to  the 
Genevan  and  Bishops'  Bibles  in  the  Prophetical  books." 
In  the  Historical  books  of  the  Old  Testament  the 
influence  of  the  Genevan  is  less  marked  ;  but  in  the  New 
Testament  it  supplies  us  with  many  familiar  phrases, 
such  as — 


THE  ENGLISH  BIBLE 


Luke  ix.  33,  "It  is  good  for  us  to  be  here  "  ("  It 
is  good  being  here  for  us,"  Tindale  and  subsequent 
versions). 

Acts  xiv.  15,  "Men  of  like  passions  with  you" 
("  Mortal  men  like  unto  you,"  Tindale,  etc.) 

1  Cor.  xiii.  12,  "We  see  through  a  glass  darkly" 
("We  see  in  a  glass  even  in  a  dark  speaking," 
Tindale,  etc.) 

2  Cor.  V.  20,  "Ambassadors  for  Christ"  ("Mes- 
sengers in  the  room  of  Christ,"  Tindale,  etc.) 

Heb.  iv.  13,  "The  eyes  of  him  with  whom  we 
have  to  do"  ("The  eyes  of  him  of  whom  we  speak," 
Tindale,  etc.) 

In  the  same  way,  although  at  the  opposite  pole 
doctrinally  and  ecclesiastically  from  the  Genevan,  and  not 
mentioned  at  all  in  the  King's  instructions,  the  Rheims 
New  Testament  has  left  its  mark  in  many  unsuspected 
ways  on  our  English  Bible.  Examples  have  already 
been  given,  but  a  few  more  may  be  of  interest.  It  will 
be  understood  that  the  second  rendering  within  brackets 
represents  the  general  rendering  in  versions  other  than 
the  Rhemish. 

Matt.  xxvi.  26,  "Jesus  took  bread  and  blessed  it  " 
("gave  thanks"). 

John  ix.  22,  "He  should  be  pit  out  of  the  syna- 
gogue "  ("  excommunicate  "). 

Acts  xiv.  23,  "When  they  had  ordained  them 
elders  "  ("  ordained  by  election  "). 

2  Cor.  V.  18,  "Hath  given  to  us  the  ministry  of 
reconciliation'^  ("the  office  to  preach  the  atone- 
ment "). 

Heb.  xii,  16,  '•'■Profane  person  as  Esau"  ("'un- 
clean "). 

We  cannot  carry  this  comparison  farther,  but  on  the 
whole  question  of  the  pedigree  of  the  Authorised  Version 
we  may  sum  up  in  the  concise  words  of  Dr.  Eadie  : 
"The  Authorized  Version  has  in  it  the  traces  of  its 
origin,  and  its  genealogy  may  be  reckoned.      For  while 


THE  AUTHORISED   VERSION 


it  has  the  fulness  of  the  Bishops'  without  its  frequent 
literalisms  or  its  repeated  supplements,  it  has  the  graceful 
vigour  of  the  Genevan,  the  quiet  grandeur  of  the  Great 
Bible,  the  clearness  of  Tyndale,  the  harmonies  of  Cover- 
dale,  and  the  stately  theological  vocabulary  of  the 
Rheims.  It  has  thus  a  complex  unity  in  its  structure 
— all  the  earlier  versions  ranging  over  eighty  years  having 
bequeathed  to  it  contributions  the  individuality  of  which 
has  not  been  in  all  cases  toned  down." 

§  3.  General   Excellence    and   Reception    of 
the   Authorised  Version. — While,    however,   the 

work  of  King  James'  translators  was  thus  mainly  one  of 
revision,  we  must  not  fail  to  accord  to  them  the  full 
praise  to  which  they  are  entitled  for  the  care  which  they 
exercised.  "  Neither  did  we  disdain,"  they  tell  us,  "  to 
revise  that  which  we  had  done,  and  to  bring  back  to 
the  anvil  that  which  we  had  hammered  .  .  .  fearing 
no  reproach  for  slowness,  nor  praise  for  expedition." 
Their  method,  too,  of  working  in  companies  pre- 
vented their  version  from  showing  those  marks  of 
individuality  by  which  certain  previous  translations  had 
been  disfigured  ;  while  their  combined  responsibility  for 
the  whole,  and  not  merely  for  their  own  several  parts, 
gave  a  general  smoothness  and  consistency  to  the  work, 
in  which  the  Bishops'  Bible,  for  example,  was  sadly 
lacking.  To  other  points  connected  with  the  Authorised 
Version,  such  as  the  appropriateness  of  its  vocabulary, 
the  beauty  of  its  style,  its  subsequent  influence  upon  our 
language  and  literature,  and  the  part  it  has  played  in 
forming  the  national  character,  it  is  impossible  to  refer 
at  length  here  ;  but  it  is  necessary  to  emphasise  what 
has  been  more  than  once  alluded  to,  that  the  new 
version,  notwithstanding  all  its  excellences,  did  not  at 
once  meet  with  general  acceptance.  On  the  contrary  it 
had  to  work  its  way  slowly  and  gradually  in  the  face  of 
much  bitter  criticism.  One  eminent  scholar  went  the 
length  of  saying  that  he  "had  rather  be  rent  in  pieces 
with  wild  horses  than  any  such  translation,  by  my 
consent,   should   be   urged  on  poor   churches."      Other 


THE  ENGLISH  BIBLE 


charges,  such  as  those  of  an  undue  ecclesiastical  or 
doctrinal  bias  on  the  part  of  the  translators  in  certain  of 
their  renderings,  though  now  in  the  main  disproved, 
could  not  fail  to  have  considerable  weight  at  the  time. 
The  translators  themselves  had  expected  nothing  else. 
"Was  there  ever  anything  projected,"  they  ask,  "that 
savoured  any  way  of  newness  or  renewing,  but  the  same 
endured  many  a  storm  of  gainsaying  or  opposition  ?  " 

As  regards  Scotland  it  is  strange,  and  not  altogether 
to  our  credit,  that  the  country  of  Knox  and  Melville 
never  produced  a  translation  of  the  Bible  of  its  own. 
Copies  of  the  Wycliffite  versions  and  of  Tindale's 
Testaments  had  found  their  way  into  the  Northern 
Kingdom,  and  in  1579,  as  we  have  already  seen,  the 
Genevan  Bible  was  reprinted  in  Edinburgh  ;  but  no 
indigenous  version  was  apparently  ever  thought  of, 
and  in  the  beginning  of  the  seventeenth  century,  not- 
withstanding national  and  other  antipathies,  Scotland 
had  still  to  look  to  England  for  her  Bible.  According  to 
the  "Canons  and  Constitutions  Ecclesiasticall "  of  1636 
it  was  enacted  that  there  should  be  provided  for  every 
Parish  "  a  Bible  of  the  largest  volume,"  and  further,  that 
"the  Bible  shall  be  of  the  translation  of  King  James." 
And  though  two  years  later  these  canons  were  rejected, 
the  way  was  at  least  paved  for  the  general  circulation  of 
the  Authorised  Version.^ 

If,  however,  the  new  version  was  thus  slow  in  estab- 
lishing itself,  the  hold  which,  once  acquired,  it  has 
since  maintained  is  unparalleled  in  the  history  of  any 
other  English  translation.  None  have  been  more  ready 
to  admit  this  than  the  men  who  in  1870  were  appointed 
to  revise  it.  "We,"  so  the  New  Testament  revisers 
tell  us  in  their  Preface,  "  have  had  to  study  this  great 
Version  carefully  and  minutely,  line  by  line  ;  and  the 
longer  we  have  been  engaged  upon  it  the  more  we  have 
learned  to  admire  its  simplicity,  its  dignity,  its  power, 
its  happy  turns  of  expression,  its  general  accuracy,  and, 

1  So  recently  as  towards  the  close  of  last  century,  a  Bible  of  the 
Genevan  translation  was  in  use  in  the  church  of  Crail,  in  Fifeshire. 


THE  AUTHORISED   VERSION  123 

we  must  not  fail  to  add,  the  music  of  its  cadences,  and 
the  felicities  of  its  rhythm." 

The  previous  independent  testimonies  of  two  of 
their  number  to  the  same  effect  may  well  be  quoted. 
"We  in  this  land,"  said  Dean  Alford,  when  advocat- 
ing the  necessity  of  revision  in  a  sermon  in  St.  Paul's, 
"possess  a  version  of  Holy  Scriptures  which  may '^ 
challenge  comparison  for  faithfulness,  for  simplicity, 
and  for  majesty  with  any  that  the  world  has  ever 
seen.  .  .  .  And  when  we  intensify  all  these  claims  to 
our  affection  by  the  fact  that  it  has  been  for  centuries, 
and  is  now,  the  vehicle  to  this  great  English  race  of 
all  that  is  pure,  and  holy,  and  lovely,  and  of  good 
report, — the  first  lesson  of  infancy,  the  guide  of  mature 
life,  the  comforter  of  sickness  and  death, — we  can 
hardly  be  surprised  that  many  and  some  of  the  best 
among  us  refuse  to  see  its  faults,  and  are  unable  to  con- 
template with  any  content  the  prospect  of  their  being 
corrected." 

And  another  great  Biblical  critic  still  happily  spared 
to  us.  Bishop  Westcott,  to  whose  History  of  the  English 
Bible  we  have  made  so  many  references  in  the  preceding 
pages,  writes  :  "  Our  version  is  the  work  of  a  Church 
and  not  of  a  man.  Or  rather,  it  is  a  growth  and  not  a 
work.  Countless  external  influences,  independent  of 
the  actual  translators,  contributed  to  mould  it ;  and 
when  it  was  fashioned  the  Christian  instinct  of  the 
nation,  touched,  as  we  believe,  by  the  Spirit  of  God, 
decided  on  its  authority."  He  adds — and  the  words 
have  an  important  bearing  on  the  subject  of  our  next 
chapter:  "Our  Bible  in  virtue  of  its  past  is  capable 
of  admitting  revision,  if  need  be,  without  violating  its 
history.  As  it  gathered  into  itself,  during  the  hundred 
years  in  which  it  was  forming,  the  treasures  of  manifold 
labours,  so  it  still  has  the  same  assimilative  power  of 
life." 


124  T^HE  ENGLISH  BIBLE 


CHAPTER    XV 

THE    REVISED    VERSION 

I,  Schemes  for  revision.  2.  Origin  of  the  Revised 
Version.  3.  Rules  for  the  revisers'  guidance.  4. 
The  revisers  at  work.  5.  Comparison  with  the 
Authorised  Version.  6.  Changes  adopted  in  the 
Revised  Version.     7.    Its  reception. 

§  I.  Schemes  for  Revision. — In  the  quotations  from 

two  of  the  leading  Biblical  scholars  of  recent  days  with 
which  our  last  chapter  concluded,  the  advisableness  of 
the  revision  of  our  Authorised  Version  was  clearly  hinted 
at.  We  must  not  however  suppose  that  it  was  left  to 
our  own  times  to  recognise  this  need.  We  are  nearer 
the  truth  when  we  say  that  the  revision  of  our  Bible  in 
one  form  or  another  has  gone  steadily  on  from  the  very 
year  in  which  it  was  first  published.  For  it  is  a  curious 
fact  that  of  the  standard  issues  of  the  Authorised  Version 
bearing  the  date  1611  there  are  still  two  sets  of  copies 
extant,  differing  in  many  minute  particulars,  and  both 
containing  numerous  errors  of  their  own,  which  it  has 
been  the  work  of  later  printers  and  editors  to  correct. 
Thus  the  one  issue  reads  in  Matt.  xxvi.  36,  "Then 
Cometh  Judas,"  instead  of  '*  Then  cometh  Jesus " ; 
while  the  other  prints  a  part  of  Exod.  xiv.  10  twice 
over.  Other  and  less  obvious  emendations  have  been 
introduced  from  time  to  time  in  subsequent  editions, 
until  the  reader  of  one  of  our  modern  Bibles  would  be 
astonished  if  he  realised  in  how  many  places  it  differed 
from  the  1611  text.i 

1  The  most  important  of  these  variations  may  be  conveniently 


THE  REVISED    VERSION 


Apart  from  these  "deliberate  changes,  introduced 
silently  and  without  authority  by  men  whose  very 
names  are  often  unknown,"  we  have  abundant  evidence 
of  more  ambitious  proposals  for  amending  the  new 
vei-sion.  Thus  in  1645  Dr.  John  Lightfoot,  preaching 
before  the  House  of  Commons,  urged  them  "  to  think 
of  a  review  and  survey  of  the  translation  of  the  Bible," 
and  pleaded  for  "  an  exact,  vigorous,  and  lively  transla- 
tion." And  a  few  years  later  the  Long  Parliament 
actually  made  an  order  that  a  Bill  should  be  brought  in 
for  a  new  translation.  But  though  a  committee  was 
appointed  for  the  purpose,  and  held  frequent  meetings, 
the  work  "became  fruitless  by  the  Parliament's  dissolu- 
tion." Various  other  schemes  for  revision  were  mooted 
from  time  to  time,  and  several  independent  translations 
of  the  Bible  either  in  whole  or  in  part  were  issued. 
The  utmost,  however,  any  of  these  can  be  said  to  have 
done,  was  to  keep  the  whole  question  of  revision  an 
open  one,  and  it  was  left  to  the  Southern  Convocation 
of  the  Church  of  England  to  take  the  initial  steps  for 
providing  us  with  what  is  now  known  as  par  excellence 

The  Revised  Version. 

§  2.  Origin  of  the  Revised  Version. — The  very 

fact  that  it  took  its  rise  in  Convocation  marks  off 
the  Revised  Version  from  all  other  English  versions. 
Tindale's  Testament  and  Coverdale's  Bible  were  the 
work  of  individuals  ;  the  Great  Bible  and  the  Bishops' 
were  Episcopal  in  their  origin  ;  the  Authorised  Version 
was  due  to  the  King  acting  in  concert  with  the  Universi- 
ties ;  but  the  idea  of  the  Revised  Version  was  matured 
by  representatives  of  the  Church  of  England  sitting 
together  in  council,  and  carried  through  with  the  assist- 
ance of  members  of  other  Churches.  Over  the  steps 
leading  up  to  the  final  decision  we  cannot  linger.  Enough, 
that  in  May  1S70  the  report  of  a  committee  appointed  in 
the  preceding  February  was  adopted,  to  the  effect  "that 
Convocation  should  nominate  a  iDody  of  its  own  members 

studied  in  the  margin  of  The  Parallel  Bible,  Authorised  Version 
and  Revised  Version,  1885. 


126  THE  ENGLISH  BIBLE 

to  undertake  the  work  of  revision,  who  shall  be  at 
liberty  to  invite  the  co-operation  of  any  eminent  for 
scholarship  to  whatever  nation  or  religious  body  they 
belong."  Shortly  afterwards  in  terms  of  this  resolution 
two  Companies  for  the  revision  of  the  Old  and  New 
Testaments  respectively  were  appointed. 

Dr.  Harold  Browne,  Bishop  of  Winchester,  was 
Chairman  of  the  Old  Testament  Company,  which,  in- 
cluding all  who  at  any  time  took  part  in  the  work, 
consisted  of  thirty-seven  members.  Amongst  these 
were  such  well-known  English  scholars  as  Bishops 
Thirlwall  of  St.  David's,  and  Wordsworth  of  Lincoln  ; 
Deans  Perowne,  Plumptre,  and  Payne  Smith  ;  Professors 
Cheyne  and  Driver,  Oxford,  and  William  Wright, 
Cambridge.  The  representatives  from  Scotland  were 
Dr.  Lindsay  Alexander,  Edinburgh  ;  Professor  Birrell, 
St.  Andrews;  Professor  A.  B.  Davidson,  F.C.  College, 
Edinburgh  ;  Principals  Douglas  and  Fairbairn,  F.C. 
College,  Glasgow;  Professor  IM'Gill,  St. '  Andrews ; 
Professor  W.  Robertson  Smith,  F.C.  College,  Aberdeen  ; 
and  Professor  Weir,  Glasgow. 

The  New  Testament  Company  was  presided  over  by 
Dr.  EUicott,  Bishop  of  Gloucester  and  Bristol,  and 
consisted  at  first  of  twenty-seven,  but  for  the  greater 
part  of  the  time  of  twenty-four  members.  These  in- 
cluded Archbishop  Trench ;  Bishops  Lightfoot  and 
Westcott  ;  Deans  Stanley  and  Vaughan  ;  Professors 
Hort  and  Kennedy,  and  Dr.  Moulton,  Cambridge  ;  and 
Dr.  F.  H.  A.  Scrivener.  The  Scottish  representatives 
were  Bishop  Wordsworth,  St.  Andrews  ;  Principal 
Brown,  F.C.  College,  Aberdeen  ;  Professor  Eadie,  U.P. 
College,  Glasgow ;  Professor  Milligan,  Aberdeen ;  and 
Professor  Roberts,  St.  Andrews. 

The  responsibility  of  the  work  was  further  shared 
and  its  interest  extended  by  the  appointment  of  similar 
Companies  in  America,  to  whom  the  British  revisers 
transmitted  from  time  to  time  the  several  portions  of  their 
revision,  receiving  from  them  in  return  criticisms  and 
suggestions.      Dr.   Philip  Schaff  of  New  York  was  the 


THE  REVISED    VERSION  127 

President  of  the  whole  American  Revision  Committee  ; 
while  the  Chairman  of  the  Old  Testament  Company  was 
Dr.  William  Henry  Green  of  Princeton,  and  the  Chairman 
ofthe  New  Testament  Company,  Dr.  Theodore  D.  Woolsey 
of  Vale  College.  To  the  "  care,  vigilance,  and  accuracy  " 
of  their  American  colleagues  in  these  happily  united 
labours,  the  revisers  bear  testimony  in  their  Preface. 

§  3.  Rules  for  the  Revisers'  Guidance.— These 

rules  or  general  principles  were  eight  in  number,  of 
which  the  five  first  were  the  most  important : — 

1.  To  introduce  as  few  alterations  as  possible  into 
the  Text  of  the  Authorised  Version  consistently  with 
faithfulness. 

2.  To  limit,  as  far  as  possible,  the  expression  of 
such  alterations  to  the  language  of  the  Authorised 
and  earlier  English  Versions. 

3.  Each  Company  to  go  twice  over  the  portion  to 
be  revised,  once  provisionally,  the  second  time 
finally,  and  on  principles  of  voting  as  hereinafter  is 
provided. 

4.  That  the  Text  to  be  adopted  be  that  for  which 
the  evidence  is  decidedly  preponderating  ;  and  that 
when  the  text  so  adopted  differs  from  that  from 
which  the  Authorised  Version  was  made,  the  altera- 
tion be  indicated  in  the  margin. 

5.  To  make  or  retain  no  change  in  the  Text  on  the 
second  final  revision  by  each  Company,  except  two- 
thirds  of  those  present  approve  of  the  same,  but  on 
the  first  revision  to  decide  by  simple  majorities. 

§  4-  The  Revisers  at  Work.— With  the  assist- 
ance of  these  rules,  and  the  accounts  which  from  various 
sources  have  reached  us,  it  is  not  difficult  to  imagine  the 
revisers  at  work.  Unlike  the  translators  in  King 
James'  time  they  were  not  divided  into  sub-committees, 
but  each  Company  met  as  a  whole,  thereby  securing  an 
even  greater  uniformity  in  their  work.  The  place  of 
meeting  was  the  Jerusalem  Chamber,  a  large  room 
attached    to   the   Deanery  of  Westminster    Abbey,  and 


128  THE  ENGLISH  BIBLE 

already  famous  as  the  scene  of  the  preparation  of  the 
Westminster  Confession  of  Faith.  On  either  side  of  a 
long  table,  reaching  from  end  to  end  of  the  room,  the 
revisers  seated  themselves,  a  sheet  of  paper  with  a 
small  portion  of  the  Authorised  Version  printed  in  the 
centre,  and  wide  margins  on  either  side  for  notes,  lying 
l^efore  eacli.  After  prayers  and  the  reading  of  the 
minutes  of  the  last  meeting,  the  Chairman  read  over  the 
appointed  passage,  and  asked  for  suggestions.  Those 
dealing  with  questions  affecting  the  original  text  were 
first  considered,  and  the  results  noted  ;  then  points  of 
rendering  were  attended  to.  Whenever  a  marked 
difference  of  opinion  arose,  a  vote  of  the  whole  Company 
was  taken.  So,  in  the  case  of  the  New  Testament 
Company,  the  work  went  on  for  ten  and  a  half 
years,  the  Company  sitting  for  four  days  eveiy  month 
(with  the  exception  of  August  and  September)  in  each 
year,  until  at  length  in  i88i  the  Revised  New  Testa- 
ment was  published.  Four  years  later  the  Revised  Old 
Testament  was  ready,  so  that  in  1885  the  English 
reader  had  the  complete  Revised  Version  before  him. 
Its  title  ran  simply  : — 

"The  Holy  Bible  containing  the  Old  and  New 
Testaments  translated  out  of  the  Original  Tongues  : 
being  the  Version  set  forth  a.d.  161  i  compared 
with  the  most  ancient  Authorities  and  revised." 

§  5-  Comparison  with  the  Authorised  Version. 

— It  is  unnecessary  to  print  lengthy  extracts  from  a  trans- 
lation which  is  within  the  easy  reach  of  all ;  but  it  may 
be  well  to  illustrate  the  advantages  to  be  gained  by  a 
comparative  study  of  the  Authorised  and  Re\dsed  Ver- 
sions by  means  of  a  few  parallel  verses.  Let  us  take  the 
passage  of  which  we  have  already  given  Coverdale's  ren- 
dering on  pp.  52-3.  The  close  relation  to  it,  and  conse- 
quently to  Tindale,  of  both  our  Authorised  and  Revised 
Versions  is  very  marked,  and  need  not  be  further  com- 
mented upon. 


THE  REVISED    VERSION 


129 


Matt.  xiii.  3-8. 


The  A.V.  161 


The  R.V. 


3.  And  he  spake  many  things 
unto  them  in  parables,  saying, 
Behold,  a  sower  went  forth  to  sow. 

4.  And  when  he  sowed,  some 
J  cds  fell  by  the  wayside,  and  the 
fowls  came,  and  devoured  them  up. 

5.  Some  fell  upon  stony  places, 
where  they  had  not  much  earth : 
and  forthwith  they  sprung  up, 
because  they  had  no  deepness  of 
earth. 

6.  And  when  the  Sun  was  up, 
they  were  scorched  :  and  because 
they  had  not  root,  they  withered 
away. 

7.  And  some  fell  among  thorns  : 
and  the  thorns  sprung  up,  and 
choked  them. 

8.  But  other  fell  into  good 
ground,  and  brought  forth  fruit, 
some  an  hundredfold,  some  sixty- 


3  And  he  spake  to  them  many 
things  in  parables,  saying. 
Behold,  the  sower  went  forth 

4  to  sow ;  and  as  he  sowed,  some 
seeds  fell  by  the  wayside,  and 
the  birds  came  and  devoured 

5  them  :  and  others  fell  upon 
the  rocky  places,  where  they 
had  not  much  earth :  and 
straightway  they  sprang  up, 
because  they  had  no  deepness 

6  of  earth :  and  when  the  sun 
was  risen,  they  were  scorched  : 
and  because  they  had  no  root, 

7  they  withered  away.  And 
others  fell  upon  the  thorns ; 
and  the  thorns  grew  up,  and 

8  choked  them  :  and  others  fell 
upon  the  good  ground,  and 
yielded  fruit,  some  a  hundred- 
fold, some  sixty,  some  thirty. 


fold,  some  thirtyfold. 

Here  it  will  be  noticed  that  the  R.V.  has  not  "  Be- 
hold, a  sower,  "but  "Behold,  the  sower,  "the  definite  article 
at  least  suggesting  the  presence  of  some  sower  actually  at 
work  in  a  field  close  at  hand,  and  so  giving  reality  to  the 
whole  story.  Passing  over  such  slight  changes  as  "as 
he  sowed  "  for  "  when  he  sowed,"  "  the  birds  "for  "  the 
fowls,"  "devoured  them"  for  "devoured  them  up," 
which  could  doubtless  all  be  justified  were  it  necessary, 
we  come  in  ver.  5  to  the  important  substitution  of  "  upon 
the  rocky  places"  for  "upon  stony  places."  The  latter 
naturally  recalls  to  the  reader  a  field  whose  surface  is 
covered  with  loose  stones,  which,  however,  is  clearly  out 
of  keeping  with  the  fate  of  the  seed  which  fell  upon  it ; 
whereas  by  "the  rocky  places"  we  are  led  to  think  of 
a  thin  sprinkling  of  earth  over  a  rocky  bed,  exactly  the 
kind  of  ground  in  which  seed  would  spring  up  quickly, 


I30  THE  ENGLISH  BIBLE 

but  as  quickly  wither  away.  Again  it  is  "upon  the 
thorns,"  and  not  "  among  thorns  "  that  other  seeds  fell — 
upon  soil,  that  is,  in  which  the  seeds  of  thorns  lay  already 
lurking,  rather  than  among  growing  and  flourishing  thorn- 
plants,  which  the  sower  would  see  and  avoid.  While 
once  more  we  cannot  but  feel  the  precision  given  to  the 
fourth  kind  of  soil,  "the  good  ground,"  and  not  merely 
"good  ground."  Doubtless  no  one  of  these  alterations 
in  itself  is  of  great  importance,  but  taken  together  they 
certainly  give  a  fresh  interest  to  the  passage,  if  in  no 
other  way,  at  least  by  arresting  our  attention,  and  causing 
us  to  ask  what  exactly  it  is  that  the  words  imply. 

But  it  must  not  be  thought  that  this  represents  all  the 
value  of  the  Revised  Version.  On  the  contrary'  it  corrects 
many  actual  errors,  and  exhibits  many  passages  in  a  wholly 
different  light.  With  the  aid  of  a  Parallel  Bible  the 
reader  can  easily  trace  these  for  himself;  but  it  may  help 
him  in  this  most  important  study,  as  well  as  prove  the 
need  there  was  of  revision,  if  we  suggest  one  or  two 
examples  under  four  general  heads. 

§  6.  Changes  adopted  in  the  Revised  Version. 

— (l)  Changes  necessitated  by  i?nproved,  that  is,  better 
authenticated  readings. — During  the  two  and  a  half  cen- 
turies that  had  elapsed  since  the  Authorised  Version  was 
published,  many  ancient  MSS.  of  great  importance  had 
been  discovered,  and  in  consequence  the  revisers  found 
themselves  in  an  immensely  better  position  than  their 
predecessors  for  determining  what  were  the  exact  words 
of  the  original  text.  The  result  was  additions  in  some 
places,  omissions  in  others,  and  in  others  again  altera- 
tions often  of  a  very  striking  character.  For  an  addition 
we  may  point  to  i  John  ii.  23,  "He  that  confesseth  the 
Son  hath  the  Father  also,"  where  the  removal  of  the 
italics  from  the  Authorised  Version  shows  that  the  words 
are  possessed  of  independent  authority  ;  for  an  omission, 
to  the  disappearance  of  the  famous  proof-text  for  the 
Trinity  in  the  same  Epistle,  "  In  heaven,  the  Father,  the 
Word,  and  the  Holy  Ghost :  and  these  three  are  one. 
And  there  are  three  that  bear  witness  in  earth"  (v.  7.  8); 


THE  REVISED    VERSION  131 

and  for  an  alteration,  to  such  a  verse  as  Luke  ii.  14,  where 
a  slight  change  in  a  Greek  word  gives  a  wholly  new  turn 
to  the  last  clause,  ' '  Glory  to  God  in  the  highest,  and  on 
earth  peace  among  men  in  whom  he  is  well  pleased." 

(2)  Changes  necessitated  by  a  viis understanding  of  the 
original. — An  obvious  example  is  Acts  xxvi.  28,  where 
for  the  familiar,  "Almost  thou  persuadest  me  to  be  ai 
Christian,"  we  now  read,  "With  but  little  persuasion  ' 
thou  wouldest  fain  make  me  a  Christian."  So  far  from 
admitting  himself  to  be  "almost"  converted,  Agrippa 
rather  insinuates  that  Paul  is  surely  expecting  too  much 
from  the  short  conversation  that  had  passed.  Of  pre- 
vious versions  Purvey's  revision  of  Wycliffe  came  nearest 
to  this  sense,  "And  Agrippa  seide  to  Poul,  In  litil  I 
thing  thou  counseilist  me  to  be  maad  a  Cristen  man."  ' 
It  is  perhaps,  however,  in  their  treatment  of  the  definite 
article,  of  prepositions,  and  of  the  tenses,  that  the  excel- 
lence of  the  revisers'  work  under  this  head  is  most 
clearly  seen — as  when  by  the  almost  invariable  insertion 
of  the  definite  article  before  "Christ"  in  the  Gospels,^ 
they  show  that  the  word  is  not  yet  a  proper  name,  but 
denotes  an  office  :  ' '  Behoved  it  not  the  Christ  [in  His 
character,  that  is  as  Messiah]  to  suffer  these  things  ? " 
(Luke  xxiv.  26) ;  or  when  they  bring  out  the  definite 
past  change  worked  for  the  believer  by  these  sufferings, 
"We  who  died  ['are  dead,'  Authorised  Version]  to  sin, 
how  shall  we  any  longer  live  therein  ? "  (Rom.  vi.  2)  ; 
or  when  they  emphasise  that  it  is  only  by  continued 
union  with  his  Lord  that  the  complete  benefits  of  this 
salvation  can  be  enjoyed,  "The  free  gift  of  God  is 
eternal  life  in  ['through,'  Authorised  Version]  Christ 
Jesus  our  Lord  "  (Rom.  vi.  23).  The  force  of  these  fine 
distinctions  may  not  be  fully  appreciated  at  first,  but 
time  will  prove  their  value. 

1  The  only  places  where  the  article  is  not  found  in  the  Greek  are 
Mark.  ix.  41  ;  Luke  ii.  11;  xxiii.  2;  John  ix.  22.  "The  turning- 
point,"  as  Bishop  Lightfoot  has  pointed  out,  "is  the  Resurrection. 
.  .  .  From  that  time  fonvard  Christ  begins  to  be  used  as  a  proper 
name  with  or  without  the  article  "  (jDn  a  Fresh  Revision  of  the 
English  New  Testament,  p.  100). 


132  THE  ENGLISH  BIBLE 

(3)  Changes  necessitated  by  archaisms. — It  is  an 
obvious  imperfection  in  a  popular  version  to  retain  v^^ords 
that  have  wholly  passed  out  of  general  use,  and  it  is  well 
that  the  mysterious  "  taches,"  "wimples,"  and  "haber- 
geon "  of  the  authorised  Old  Testament  have  given  place 
to  the  more  intelligible  "clasps,"  "shawls,"  and  "coat 
of  mail  "  of  the  Revised  Version.  But  still  more  serious 
confusion  has  been  caused  by  words  which  have  changed 
their  meaning  since  161 1,  and  which,  though  a  correct 
rendering  of  the  original  at  that  time,  are  no  longer 
so.  A  commonly  cited  instance  is  the  familiar  word 
"thought,"  which  has  lost  the  idea  of  care  or  anxiety 
once  attached  to  it,  and  can  therefore  no  longer  adequately 
stand  alone  in  such  a  verse  as  Matt.  vi.  31.  We  must 
now  translate  "Take  no  anxious  thought,"  or,  as  in 
Revised  Version  "Be  not  anxious.''  Again  when  in 
I  Cor.  iv.  4  St.  Paul  writes,  "  I  know  nothing  by 
myself,"  how  few  realise  that  he  means,  as  the  revised 
rendering  shows,  "  against  myself,"  according  to  the  old 
use  of  "  by." 

(4)  Changes  necessitated  by  inconsistency  of  rendering 
of  the  sajue  words  and  phrases. — This  is  a  very  numerous 
class,  for,  according  to  their  own  admission,  the  translators 
of  the  Authorised  Version  did  not  feel  themselves  tied  "  to 
an  uniformity  of  phrasing,  or  to  an  identity  of  words," 
with  the  result  that  in  this  translation  many  instructive 
parallelisms  in  the  original  are  quite  lost  sight  of.  These 
are  now  happily  restored  in  the  Revised  Version,  as 
when  we  read  that  "Jesus,  full  of  the  Holy  Spirit 
['  Ghost,'  Authorised  Version]  .  .  .  was  led  by  the 
Spirit  in  the  wilderness"  (Luke  iv.  i);  or  find  the 
warning,  "  Every  branch  that  beareth  fruit  he  cleanseth 
['purgeth,'  Authorised  Version]  it,"  followed  by  the 
gracious  assurance  to  the  Apostles,  "Already  ye  are 
clean  because  of  the  word  which  I  have  spoken  unto 
you  "  (John  xv.  2,  3). 

§  7.  Its  Reception. — From  these  examples  of 
amended  translations  in  the  Revised  Version  —  the  list 
of  which  might  be  almost  indefinitely  extended — and  such 


THE  REVISED   VERSION  133 

other  obvious  improvements  as  the  arrangement  of  the 
text  into  paragraphs,  and  the  mode  of  printing  the 
quotations  from  the  Poetical  books  of  the  Old  Testa- 
ment,^  it  might  reasonably  have  been  expected  that 
the  new  version  would  speedily  supplant  the  old  in 
general  use.  This,  however,  has  not  proved  to  be  the 
case.  After  the  extraordinary  rush  of  interest  which 
the  first  appearance  of  the  Revised  Version  caused, 
the  public  have  shown  themselves  slow  to  give  up 
the  version  already  hallowed  to  them  by  so  many 
memories.  And  after  all,  in  so  acting,  they  have  only 
repeated  what  has  happened  in  the  reception  of  most 
previous  versions,  in  none  more  noticeably  than  of  the 
Authorised  Version  itself.  Meanwhile,  we  may  be 
thankful  that  we  have  the  Revised  Version  in  our  hands 
for  comparison  and  guidance.  It  is  an  aid  which  no 
one  who  desires  to  get  at  the  exact  meaning  of  original 
Scripture  can  afford  to  do  without.  And  the  more  it  is 
studied,  the  more  will  its  so-called  blemishes  disappear, 
and  every  page  be  found  to  throw  new  and  striking  light 
on  the  inexhaustible  depths  of  meaning  hidden  in  the 
sacred  Word. 

We  have  finished  our  survey  of  the  English  versions 
of  the  Bible,  and  have  seen  how  in  the  last  of  these  we 
are  the  possessors  of  a  translation  which,  in  point  of 
accuracy  at  any  rate,  leaves  almost  nothing  to  be  desired. 
It  is  a  long  period  from  the  Wycliffe  Bible  of  1382  to 
the  Revised  Version  of  1885,  and,  as  we  look  back  upon 
it  and  recall  the  many  influences  and  persons  who  have 
combined  in  giving  us  our  English  Bible,  a  new  illustration 
is  afforded  of  the  old  saying,  ' '  Others  have  labow'cd,  and 
ye  are  entered  into  their  labour.'^'' 

Nor  is  it  only  of  the  labour  of  past  generations  that 
the  story  of  our  Bible  reminds  us,  but  of  self-sacrifice  and 

'  For  information  regarding  the  marginal  notes,  the  use  of  italics, 
punctuation,  etc.,  the  reader  is  referred  to  the  Revisers'  Prefaces  to 
the  Old  and  New  Testaments,  which  should  in  any  case  be  carefully- 
studied  by  all  who  would  rightly  understand  the  nature  of  their 
work. 


134  THE  ENGLISH  BIBLE 

martyrdom.  For  it  is  a  striking  fact  that  of  the  men 
most  actively  engaged  in  Bible  translation  during  the 
sixteenth  century,  no  fewer  than  four  perished  by  a 
violent  death.  Tindale  was  martyred  in  1536  ;  Cromwell, 
to  whom  we  owe  the  Great  Bible,  was  executed  in  1 540 ; 
John  Rogers  or  Matthew  was  the  first  victim  of  the  Marian 
persecutions  ;  and  Cranmer,  who  gave  his  name  to  later 
editions  of  the  Great  Bible,  was  burnt  at  the  stake  in  the 
same  reign. 

It  is  well  for  us  to  remember  these  things,  and  the 
toils  and  self-denials  of  other  workers  in  the  same  field, 
if  only  that  we  may  understand  how  precious  is  the  legacy 
bequeathed  to  us,  and  how  great  our  corresponding 
responsibility.  "Ye  are  brought,"  say  the  translators  of 
the  Authorised  Version,  "unto  fountains  of  living  water 
which  ye  digged  not.  .  .  .  O  receive  not  so  great  things 
in  vain :  O  despise  not  so  great  salvation.  ...  It  is  a  fearful 
thing  to  fall  into  the  hands  of  the  living  God ;  but  a  blessed 
thing  it  is,  and  will  bring  us  to  everlasting  blessedness  in 
the  end,  when  God  speaketh  unto  us,  to  hearken  ;  when 
He  setteth  His  word  before  us,  to  read  it ;  when  He 
stretcheth  out  His  hand  and  calleth,  to  answer,  Here 
am  I,  here  we  are  to  do  Thy  will,  O  God." 


SOME  BOOKS  ON  THE  SUBJECT 


I.  Introductory — 

Lovett  (R.),  The  Printed  E?iglish  Bible,  1525-1885. 

IS. 

Smyth  (J.  Paterson),  Hozv  we  got  our  Bible,      is. 
Talbot  (Canon),  Our  Bible  and  how  it  has  come  to 
us.      IS.  6d. 

r-j2.-  Histories— 

tr^  Eadie  (John),  The  English  Bible.     2  vols.     ;Ci:8s. 

Moulton  (W.  F.),  The  History  of  the  English  Bible. 

3s.  6d. 
Westcott  (Bishop),  A  General  View  of  the  History 
of  the  English  Bible.      2nd  Ed.  1872.      (Out  of 
print. ) 

To  these  may  be  added  as  good  popular  accounts — 

Pattison  (T.  Harwood),  The  History  of  the  English 

Bible.     4s.  6d, 
Stoughton  (John),  Our  English  Bible :  its  Transla- 
tions and  Translators.      6s. 

While  for  reference  the  following  will  be  found  useful — 
Dore  (J.  R. ),  Old  Bibles.     5s. 
Edgar  (Andrew),  The  Bibles  of  England.     7s.  6d. 
Mombert  (J.  I.),  English  Versions  of  the  Bible.      6s. 
Scrivener  (F.   H.   A.),    The  Authorized   Edition   of 
the  English  Bible,  1611.      7s.  6d. 


136  THE  ENGLISH  BIBLE 

British  Museum  Catalogue  of  Printed  Books — Bible, 
Part  I.     4S. 

Lewis's  History  of  the  English  Translations  of  the 
Bible  (Lond.  1818),  and  Anderson's  The 
Annals  of  the  English  Bible  (i  vol.  revised 
edition,  Lond.  1862),  contain  much  useful  in- 
formation, but  require  to  be  carefully  verified. 

3.  Reprints — 

Those  who  wish  to  study  the  subject  for  themselves,  and 
have  not  access  to  the  original  editions  in  the  great  libraries, 
will  find  the  following  reprints  very  useful  : — 

Job,  Psalms,  etc.,    Wycliffe,  Hereford,  and  Purvey. 

1 881.      3s.  6d.      (Clarendon  Press. ) 
The  New  Testament,  Wycliffe  and  Purvey.      1879. 
6s.      (Clarendon  Press.) 

These  are  reprinted  from  Forshall  and  Madden' s  great 
work  on  The  Wycliffite  Versions.  The  following  can 
usually  be  obtained  at  a  moderate  cost  at  the  second-hand 
bookshops  : — 

The  New  Testament,  J.    Wic lif  {Pmvey's  revision). 

Edited  by  H.  H.  Baber.      18 10. 
The   First   Printed   English  New  Testament,    W. 

Tindale,  1525.      Edited  by  E.  Arber,      1871. 
The  New  Testament,   W.  Tyndale,  1526  (being  the 

complete  octavo  edition).      Edited  by  G.  Oftbr. 

1836. 
The  Holy  Scriptures,  M.  Coverdale,  1535  (Bagster). 
The  English  ^^jra/ /a,  containing  the  New  Testaments 

of  Wiclif  (Purvey's  revision),  Tyndale  (1534), 

Great    Bible   (1539),    Geneva    (1557),    Anglo- 

Rhemish  (1582),  Authorised  (1611)  (Bagster). 
The    Oxford  Reprint   of  the   Authorized    Version, 

1611.      1833. 


BOOKS  ON  THE  SUBJECT  137 


Mombert's  reprint  of  Tindale's  Five  Books  of  Moses, 
and  Fry's  New  Testament,  Tyndale,  1525,  and  Biblio- 
graphical Descriptions  of  the  different  Tindale  Testaments, 
and  of  the  various  editions  of  the  Great  Bible,  are  also 
very  important,  but  they  are  scarcer  and  more  costly. 


THE  END 


Printed  by  v..  &  R.  CLARK,  LIMITED,  Edinbursh. 


HELPS  TO  BIBLE  STUDY. 


THE  AGES  BEFORE  MOSES.  A  Series  of  Lectures 
on  the  Book  of  Genesis.  By  J.  M.  Gibson,  D.D. 
i2mo.     Cloth.     $i.oo. 

' '  These  lectures  are  timely,  noteworthy,  and  original.  They  are 
all  separately  interesting,  and  form  as  a  whole  a  very  complete 
picture  of  a  period  around  which  many  Bible  readers  are  apt  to 
throw  a  vague  mistiness,  which  obscures  the  mind,  even  when  it 
is  intent  upon  seeing  and  seeking  the  truth.  .  .  .  " — Southern 
Ckjirchman. 

THE  MOSAIC  ERA.  A  Series  of  Lectures  on  Exodus, 
Leviticus,  Numbers,  and  Deuteronomy.  By  J,  M. 
Gibson,  D.D.,  author  of  "Ages  before  Moses,"  etc. 
i2mo.      Cloth,     fi.oo. 

"  No  book  that  has  lately  appeared  contains  such  valuable  ex- 
positions of  the  Mosaic  record.  The  author  is  a  scholar  and  an 
able  lecturer,  and  the  productions  of  his  pen  are  full  of  instructive 
and  suggestive  thoughts." — Baltimoi'e  Presbyterian. 

THE  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  JESUS  THE  MESSIAH. 

By  A.  Edersheim,  M.A.  Oxon.,  D.D.,  Ph.D.  2 
vols.  Royal  8vo.  Cloth.  $6.00  net\  by  mail, 
$6.50.  Abridged  edition  in  one  volume,  $1.75, 
illustrated.  Rev.  Dr.  HOWARD  Crosby  wrote  to 
the  American  publishers  as  follows  : — 

"  Edersheim' s  'Life  of  Christ'  is  superior  to  all  the  works  of 
this  class  that  have  appeared  for  the  English  reader  in  the  matter 
of  illustration  and  exj^lanation  from  a  Rabbinical  point  of  view. 
His  work  is  a  storehouse  of  exact  information,  more  full  and  more 
clear  than  old  Lightfoot,  and  is  an  indispensable  encyclopaedia  for 
a  well-equipped  minister." 

ANSON  D.  F.  RANDOLPH  &  COMPANY, 

PUBLISHERS,   182  FIFTH  AVENUE, 

NEW  YORK. 


^m    Gaylord  Bros.        ^M 
P^l             Makers                 Hi 

^^^H 

Date  Due 

'.)'.-■  -^    \ 

" 

•  / ',.  /    ■  »■ 

.*^EP   1 

5,J99ft 

OCT  \ 

0  1996 

ww~< 

*-•      ' 

\ 

) 

y 

\ 

^ 

m 


BS455.M65 

The  English  Bible  :  a  sketch  of  its 

Princeton  Theological  Seminary-Speer  Library 


1    1012  00081   2869 


